What You Actually Need To Remember From The Mandalorian Season 1

Off the top of your head, can you recall who Fennec Shand is and where we last saw her? What about a guy by the name of Mythrol? Do you know the history of Moff Gideon’s darksaber? Living through 2020 feels like going through an entire decade in a matter of months, so while the last episode of The Mandalorian aired in December 2019, it also kind of feels light years away. A lot — some could say too much — has happened since we last crossed paths with Din Djaren (Pedro Pascal) and The Child, so losing track of a few Mandalorian season 1 details along the way is perfectly understandable. 

The Mandalorian’s inaugural season was certainly eventful as its monster-of-the-week format took us from planet to planet and problem to problem, and I’d bet all the Beskar in the known universe that many of those seemingly one-and-done characters will filter back into Mando’s season 2 story. And if your streaming queue is just too long to merit a quick rewatch ahead of Disney+ dropping season 2 of The Mandalorian, fear not, casual viewer. Here are a few main points you need to remember ahead of the new season.

There is more to this show than The Child, aka Baby Yoda, but let’s be honest: this cute creature is your main concern. At the end of the last season, Mando risked literally everything to keep the baby out of the Empire’s clutches. He removed his helmet so that IG-11 (Taika Waititi) could heal him, took his whole crew through tunnels of lava to sneak away, and then went into one-on-one combat against Moff Gideon’s (Giancarlo Esposito) Tie Fighter, using his new jetpack. 

Now, he’s got a simple choice: Either take the baby as his ward and train them in the ways of the Mandalorians, or deliver the baby to a group of other Yodas (the official species name is somehow TBD after 43 years of exploring this universe, but I digress). Din assumes there is a group of The Child’s kind to return him to, but considering we’ve only ever seen two other creatures from this species (the Yoda and the Star Wars prequel trilogy’s Yaddle), I’d wager Din is on a fool’s errand. That baby may as well get some tiny Mando armor fitted ASAP. 

In season 1, we learn that Mando, aka Din, wasn’t born a Mandalorian. His parents were killed by what appear to be Separatist droids and he was rescued by Mandalorians, who then raised him. This, in a nutshell, is why he’s so dedicated to The Child — he sees himself in the abandoned baby. 

Also, as you may recall if you love seeing Pedro Pascal’s face, Mando never takes his helmet off. He only did so in front of IG-11 because the droid reasoned that he was not a being, and therefore wouldn’t violate Din’s oath. If Din had taken his helmet off in front of another person (like that nice woman he flirted with in episode 3), he would not be permitted to put his helmet back on. Ever. So don’t expect many more Pascal sightings. 

Lastly, as a bounty hunter, it’s clear Din’s got some skeletons in his closet. Every time he comes into contact with someone from his past, he seems eager to brush the details aside. But those details are sure to begin bubbling up in season 2, and we probably won’t like some of them. 

Three relatively beloved characters are goners. The most painful loss is IG-11, the droid who was originally programmed to kill the Child. By season’s end, he defended the kiddo so fiercely that after stealing The Child back from its stormtrooper captors, IG-11 decimated an entire group of stormtroopers himself then literally waded into lava and self-destructed to help Baby Yoda and Din escape. 

The Client, played by Baby Yoda’s biggest fan, perpetual meme, and prolific documentarian Werner Herzog, was killed by Moff Gideon. While his performance of the line “I’d like to see the baby” was an entire mood, a little Herzog goes a long way, so the loss makes sense. 

The other major death of season 1 was Nick Nolte’s Kuiil, the Ugnaught who served as Mando’s early season 1 guide and ultimately gave his life to save The Child. It seemed pretty likely that someone would have to die before the baby was whisked away to safety, but the loss of Kuiil still hurts. I have spoken! 

In the finale, after helping Din get the baby to safety, Bounty Hunters’ Guild agent and generally slippery character Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) offers Din a job as his personal enforcer. Apparently, seeing the guy take on a Tie Fighter with nothing but some jet fuel strapped to his back gave Greef a few ideas. Greef also disliked The Child until the tyke used force healing on him following a wild animal attack, and later famously misunderstood how the force thing works, yelling, “Come on, Baby, do the magic hand thing,” at a confused, but cheery Baby Yoda.

Greef’s job offer was nice and all, but because Din’s determined to get The Child back to its people, Cara Dune (Gina Carano) took the gig instead. That leaves the former Rebel shocktrooper conveniently side-by-side with Greef for any and all season 2 team-ups (and thanks to the season 2 trailer, we know that team-up is coming). 

Also of note is the fact that Cara’s experience as a fighter in the Rebellion means she’s seen how cruel and vicious the Empire can be firsthand. She agreed to fight alongside Din in the finale not because she was charmed by the Child (lest we forget, the little creature force-choked her when he saw her arm wrestle Papa Din), but because she carries a huge chip on her shoulder after what she’s seen. 

Moff Gideon is, in the simplest terms, this series’ Big Bad. After focusing all our energies on Herzog’s The Client, it turned out he was just a pawn, and that the real fearsome agent of the Empire is Esposito’s villain. (Duh, says anyone who watched Breaking Bad, The Boys, or Dear White People.)

But while it was a thrill to see the actor flex his villain muscles in familiar Empire garb, the real shock in Gideon’s storyline is the moment he emerges from his downed Tie Fighter brandishing a — most likely the — darksaber. Suddenly, he’s not just some power hungry moff in the Empire’s sprawling ranks; he’s a very important puzzle piece in Star Wars lore. 

The darksaber is a black lightsaber with special abilities and a complex history, and it’s more than likely season 2 will get into some of these details. But the main thing you need to know now is that, as far as we currently know, there is only one darksaber in existence. It belonged to the first Mandalorian to become a Jedi, and has largely been held by Mandalorians for centuries, save for a short blip wherein a Sith stole it. Still, last we saw, it was in the right hands. The fact that an Empire leader now wields the darksaber is concerning for many reasons, but most importantly it seems to confirm Moff Gideon’s role in the Great Purge, the Mandalorian genocide. The saber also opens up a host of theories, but the most hotly debated is whether or not Moff Gideon is force sensitive.

Remember that one episode that had a major guest star, only to banish her to the desert and to the backs of our minds? And then do you remember when The Mandalorian booked yet another major guest star, only to leave him and his pals trapped while Din flew quickly to his next conflict? Well, some of these guest stars will certainly be back, and you’ll want to remember what happened to them.

First, let’s deal with Ming-Na Wen’s Fennec, the assassin Din left in the desert on Tatooine. She was shot, and supposedly dead, but in the final moments of episode 5, we saw a shadowy figure approach Fennec. We’ve seen both Din and Greef survive being shot, so it’s possible she did too. As for who her could-be savior is, many saw the cape and assumed it was the notoriously phony Mandalorian (seriously, look it up) and deceased (as far as we know) bounty hunter Boba Fett. But it’s also possible her caped companion is Moff Gideon, as Empire leadership often don cloaks, and an assassin who’s faced Din before would certainly come in handy to hunt Gideon’s new target down. 

As for another band of ne'er-do-wells who might be willing to join the Anti-Mando efforts, we turn our attention to Bill Burr’s Mayfeld, and his companions, which include a Twi’lek woman named Xi'an (Game of Thrones’ Natalie Tena). In episode 6, Din teamed up with these old cohorts to rescue Xi'an's brother Qin (Ismael Cruz Cordova) from a New Republic prison ship. After they reached the prisoner however, a guard sent out a distress signal and Din’s companions double crossed him. In order to get out alive, he had to defeat them and leave them all trapped on the doomed ship as the New Republic fighters approached. If they ever get out (and they’ll definitely get out), they’re going to be pissed. 

This character is most certainly going to come back up in season 2 (you can spy a flash of his blue face in the most recent teaser), but it’s easy to forget his whole deal since he’s one of the first people we meet in The Mandalorian season 1. Mythrol (played by SNL alum Horatio Sanz) was the blue dude who was making jokes and attempting escape in The Mandalorian’s opening sequence. It was mere minutes before Mando saw right through his bathroom ruse and froze him in carbonite before flying off to start his real journey, but I’d wager Mythrol hasn’t forgotten the moment.