Analyze This: 'The Mandalorian' Season 2 Trailer

We open on Mando’s Razor Crest over an unknown planet of sorts, seemingly flying over the scape — only to realize the ship has been damaged in some capacity. Mando, and presumably The Child, are adrift at (space) sea for unknown purposes. However, it might be safe to assume that Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) could have played a role in damaging the ship. The other plausible circumstance could be the Razor Crest is merely out of fuel, as we’ve heard Mando express how difficult it can be to find the credits to just travel between worlds.

The cutting of the Armorer’s quote of “Show me the one whose safety deemed such destruction” with The Child appearing out of the darkness is a clever bit of editing and a good reminder of just how much chaos Mando has caused since he covered the asset. Also, the amount of Baby Yoda in this trailer is very welcome.

The two are walking on some sort of cityscape. While there’s nothing immediately identifiable about the planet, it looks like it could be Lothal, the world where most of the Star Wars Rebels animated series took place. Considering some characters from Rebels are in play for this season, it’s not too far afield to think we might see Lothal make the jump from animation to live-action.

While this technically could be any desert planet, it’s most likely a return to Tatooine. Per the cliffhanger at the end of Season 1’s “The Gunslinger,” it appears there’s someone on Tatooine the show wants us to care about. Whether that’s the rumored return of Boba Fett or Timothy Olymphant’s Cobb Vanth, Mando has some unfinished business on the infamous planet. Also, Tusken Raiders are native to Tatooine, which further confirms our speculation.

While Hoth is arguably the most notable ice planet in Star Wars, there’s another glacial frontier with critical importance to the history of the Jedi: Ilum. Seen in Star War Jedi: Fallen Order, Ilum is the planet where Jedi Padawans found the kyber crystal to power a lightsaber in a trial known as "the Gathering". 

In Fallen Order, we see the Empire has taken over Ilum to harvest kyber crystals to power the Death Star. While Ilum will eventually become the future home of The First Order’s Starkiller Base, Mandalorian might see the planet otherwise abandoned during this time. And with such close ties to the Jedi, it could make for a handy place to pick up the trail of where the Child may have originated—while also learning more about the past, present, and (maybe even!) the future of the beloved Force-users.

Is that Sasha Banks’ music?! The WWE Superstar quickly appears as the Armorer’s voiceover reminds us of Mando’s task to return the Child to the Jedi. While details haven’t been confirmed yet, conventional wisdom is that Banks will be playing the live-action version of Sabine Wren. As a member of the Star Wars Rebels crew and a native of the planet Mandalore, Wren has all kinds of dual-connections to both the Jedi & Mandalorians and between the TV worlds of live-action and animation Star Wars series. 

Or I could be totally off the mark, and the answer is much more straightforward; the dialogue specifically mentions Jedi, so perhaps there’s intentionality there, and Banks is playing either an apprentice of Ahsoka’s (Rosario Dawson) or she’s a Sith of some sort. Either way, it’s exciting to have her involved in the show.

Not entirely sure of the planet here, but there’s always a chance it could be Han Solo’s homeworld of Corellia, given the seaports briefly glimpsed as Mando approaches and the open water seen in the screencap below.

While X-Wings hold special significance for fans of the movies, in the world of The Mandalorian, it’s decidedly bad news. Mando’s bounty-hunting days put him just as much in the New Republic’s crosshairs, meaning the good guys have real cause to eliminate our series lead.

We see Mando on Tatooine again, jetting across the sands on a speeder bike. It’s a seemingly meaningless shot, but some eagle-eyed Redditors seem to believe the items on the back of the bike are the armor and jetpack of Boba Fett. The Fetts (both Boba and Jango) have quite a storied history in the galaxy and might have a specific significance to the Mandalorians themselves. If Mando can get his hands on Boba’s armor, there might be a big reward.

Glad to know we’ll get to spend at least a little bit of time with Cara Dune (Gina Carano) and Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) on Nevarro once again.

You know, there are some out there who might say using the Imperial siren as a way to drum up tension in a trailer is overplayed after it was used in a Rogue One trailer. I, however, am not one of those people. Please give me more Imperial sirens, please. 

We knew after Moff Gideon’s appearance that Mando was going to be a wanted man. Here, we get a quick reminder of this impending doom as Stormtroopers gear up and roll out to attack.

It’s a good thing Mando has a jetpack of his own now, as he activates to evade those prepping Stormtroopers. Is there a chance this is taking place back on Nevarro once again? It certainly seems like it could be the case.

A better shot of Mando on the ice planet. Look at this gameplay footage from Fallen Order and tell me they’re not strikingly similar!

The first rule of the Gamorrean Guard Fight Club is not to talk about Gamorrean Guard Fight Club. You may recognize these guards as the species who Jabba the Hutt used to protect his palace before Luke Skywalker caused a bunch of chaos there.

Ah, the return of the Whistling birds! Despite his final trip to the Armorer on Nevarro, Mando didn’t walk away with a new set of wrist rockets, so these are all brand new. Meaning, he’ll acquire a new set at one point during the season. Considering the birds are made from Beskar Steel, what if that’s the reward Mando chooses after returning Boba’s armor?

And here we reach the final shot. What strikes me about this trailer is just how coy Disney and LucasFilm are about this whole season. There’s no Ahsoka, no Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff), or even a quick shot of Moff Gideon. The trailer very specifically skews towards explicitly conveying the adventure-of-the-week episodic style series we saw last year. That’s good news for those (like myself) who were a little concerned about more extensive lore creeping in and running what made the show great. Instead, it’s the opposite, as this Mandalorian trailer appears to prove we’ll have our cake—and eat it, too.