The Mandalorian Season 2 Trailer Breakdown and Analysis

The Mandalorian season 2 will send Mando and Baby Yoda to new places across the galaxy and to new dangers, as the bounty hunter with a heart of gold searches for the Child’s home. As teased in the season’s first trailer ahead of the Oct. 30 premiere, the journey won’t be easy. Mando (Pedro Pascal) won’t only have to contend with other bounty hunters trying to get the jump on him but also the brutal Empire, which is still on the hunt for the Child. And unbeknownst to our hero, the cruel Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) survived his encounter with the Mandalorian and is out for blood, the powerful Darksaber in hand.

There’s plenty going on in this trailer, between firefights, duels, and even a few X-wing scenes (!), so I’m breaking down the video below to see what secrets are hiding in plain sight. Hopefully, we’ll learn a few new things about season 2 along the way. Hit me in the comments or on Twitter if you’ve caught something I’ve missed!

Before I get started, here’s the trailer again:

Okay, here’s what I’ve found so far:

The trailer opens with Mando and Baby Yoda flying the Razor Crest towards a terrestrial moon I can’t quite recognize, although the way it’s introduced into the shot reminds me of how the Millenium Falcon flew around the gas giant of Yavin to reveal the much smaller Yavin IV hiding just behind it. It’s a nice little callback.

Of course, the biggest detail here is that the Razor Crest has taken some damage before this scene, as you can see from the sparking engine and the way the ship can’t seem to fly on a straight course towards its destination. The cargo door is also hanging open, unable to close. The ship clearly ran into some trouble.

As you’ll see throughout the rest of the trailer, the Razor Crest will pick up some New Republic pursuers this season, and the Empire isn’t too far behind either. Expect a few dog fights.

We then see Mando and the Child walking across the surface of what looks like a settlement in the desert. Are the heroes back on Tatooine? Or are they on one of the other dry planets introduced in the first season, like Arvala-7 and Nevarro? Tatootine seems most likely since Star Wars can’t help itself. Either way, the trailer delivers the Western vibes right away, as the gunslinger and his ward arrive in this desert town. Trouble will definitely follow.

“Show me the one whose safety deemed such destruction,” says the Armorer (Emily Swallow) during this shot. “You must reunite it with its own kind.”

These lines are of course a callback to the end of the first season when the Armorer sent Mando on his way to find the Child’s home, a search that will be the focus of the second season.

Clear skies. The desert. A Tusken Raider riding a bantha. This is definitely Tatooine. Is Mando on his way back to see mechanic Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris) after another run-in with some enemy ships?

It’s on Tatooine where Mando will likely meet Timothy Olyphant’s Cobb Vanth, a former slave who found Boba Fett’s old armor and made himself sheriff of a settlement called Freetown in the Aftermath books by Chuck Wendig. This character’s arrival may have actually been teased in the first season’s fifth episode. In the final scene of the episode, we see and hear as a mysterious stranger with spurs on his boots finds the body of Fennec Shand, the assassin played by Ming-Na Wen. At first, most fans speculated that this was Boba Fett but since Olyphant’s Vanth casting came to light, the sheriff seems more likely.

All that said, Temuera Morrison has also been cast to play Boba Fett in the series, although reports suggest the character only plays a small role on the show. Maybe even just a brief cameo. A showdown between Mando, Cobb, and Boba Fett sure would be an interesting half-hour of television, though. Either way, this series is poised to confirm that Boba Fett survived the sarlacc pit from Return of the Jedi.

Mando and Baby Yoda’s search takes them to an ice planet at some point. There are plenty of ice planets in the Star Wars galaxy, so I’m not sure which one this is. The very first episode of the series followed the Mandalorian as he visited the ice planet of Maldo Kreis to collect a bounty. It’s possible he’s back on Maldo Kreis for season 2.

The next shot shows Mando kneeling next to the Child, some kind of ship or vehicle wreckage in the background. I’m not sure what kind of vessel this is, but it almost looks Clone Wars era to me. What do you think?

As Mando walks through what looks like an outpost full of aliens from all over the galaxy, we hear the Armorer telling the bounty hunter about “an order of sorcerers called Jedi” who she believes may know more about the origins of the Child. It’s possible that Baby Yoda is even one of these “sorcerers.” (We know of course that the Child is indeed strong in the Force and would make an excellent baby Jedi.)

Just as the Armorer mentions these sorcerers, we see a cloaked figure watching Mando and the Child from the shadows. While some thought this might be Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano, who is also making her live-action debut on the show, this is actually a mystery character played by none other than WWE superstar Sasha Banks. The trailer strongly teases that Banks’ character is either a Jedi or a dark sider. This seems like a bit of misdirection to me, but it’s clear that Banks is at the very least some sort of spy watching Mando’s moves.

We then see Mando and Baby Yoda riding on a boat across foggy waters to parts unknown, which is very cool in itself since we don’t really see much sea travel in Star Wars unless it’s on Naboo. Why can’t Mando get to wherever he’s going on the Razor Crest, though?

Remember those New Republic pursuers I mentioned earlier? A little more than midway through the trailer, the Razor Crest is met by two X-wings who lock S-foils in attack position after Mando undoubtedly fails to comply with their orders. A very cool chase sequence through a cloudy sky ensues that I can’t wait to watch more of.

Mando’s allies, Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) and Cara Dune (Gina Carano), are back for season 2. Judging from the destruction in the background and the terrain, it looks like Mando will reunite with his friends on Nevarro some time after their fight with the Empire last season.

The Empire is back too, of course. We see troopers and pilots rushing into battle on speeder bikes and the Outland TIE fighters first introduced in season 1. Judging from the volcanic terrain in these scenes, it looks like this scuffle with the Empire also takes place on Nevarro.

This looks like it’s going to be an awesome fight sequence, with Mando jetpacking off a cliff to meet the Imperial scum. Is Moff Gideon waiting for him?

I can’t tell what’s happening here except that Mando has trapped someone, hanging them upside down from a street post. The graffiti all over the walls makes me think this is back on Mos Eisley, which was heavily vandalized after the local Imperial forces were slaughtered. You all remember the stormtrooper helmets on pikes, right?

A couple of quick cuts of Mando and Baby Yoda walking through an ice cave and what looks like the Razor Crest falling through a planet’s atmosphere follow. Then we get the most interesting scene of the entire trailer, as Mando and the Child walk into a room where two Gamorreans are duking it out inside a ring! The Star Wars Wrestling Federation is a thing, and this fight includes weapons and is probably to the death. I now want to watch a whole show about a Gamorrean heavyweight making his way through the seedy world of whatever sport this is.

Unsurprisingly, Mando and the Child run into some trouble during the fight, as a group of criminals turn their blasters on them. The one-eyed alien doing the talking is an Abyssin, a species first introduced in the cantina scene in A New Hope.

Baby Yoda hilariously takes cover as Mando activates his whistling birds, the tiny guided projectiles that make quick work of these bozos. After Mando takes down that Zabrak guard (!), it looks like the bounty hunter is the last man standing.

“This is the way.”

More on The Mandalorian season 2 as we learn it!