CLONE WARS EPISODES FOR MANDALORIAN FANS
By Megan Crouse
Before The Mandalorian season 3 arrives, fans wanting to bone up on backstory can look to Star Wars: The Clone Wars for help.
The Cartoon Network animated series concluded on Disney+, and it now serves as the perfect guide to all those cameos and other details in The Mandalorian season 2.
The Clone Wars began the mythology in season 2 with “The Mandalore Plot,” an episode which featured a peaceful clan led by Bo-Katan’s sister, Duchess Satine Kryze.
The episode also introduced the Death Watch, which would one day adopt Din Djarin, and marked the first appearance of the Darksaber, built by Tarre Vizsla.
The following episode, “Voyage of Temptation,” continued with an assassination attempt, contrasting the Death Watch’s violence with Satine’s pacifist Mandalore government.
The Clone Wars arc concluded with “Duchess of Mandalore,” which emphasized the political struggle between factions that would later grip Din and Bo-Katan in The Mandalorian.
The third season of The Clone Wars revisited Mandalore in “Corruption,” which highlighted the planet’s importance in the war between the Republic and Separatists.
The following episode, “The Academy,” finally brought Ahsoka Tano, the protagonist of The Clone Wars film, to the series and showcased life for children on Mandalore.
Season 4’s “A Friend in Need” introduced Bo-Katan, who worked with the Death Watch to topple her sister’s government, an act she must reconcile with in The Mandalorian season 3.
“The Shadow Conspiracy” arc in season 5 episodes 14 through 16 finds a resurgent Maul claiming the Darksaber in the violent transfer of power alluded to in The Mandalorian.
The final season of The Clone Wars in 2020 featured “The Siege of Mandalore” arc in episodes 9 through 12, wherein Ahsoka helped the Republic free Mandalore from Maul.
That arc also saw Bo-Katan switching sides to ask the Jedi for help against Maul, who had encouraged all-out war on Mandalore, explaining her current stance in The Mandalorian.
Of course, Palapatine and Maul knew this conflict would lead to the rise of the Empire, and the dark effects of these events are still being felt decades later in The Mandalorian.