The big bad from the first two seasons of The Mandalorian seems to be returning. And the people who liberated him could reference a major sect of Mandalorians, one we haven’t seen in a live-action Star Wars show, yet. With the ending of Mando Season 3, Episode 5, “The Pirate,” we now know Moff Gideon escaped, but the people who freed him could be straight out of Star Wars Rebels. Here’s why the ending of “The Pirate,” might signal a massive Mandalorian vs. Mandalorian battle for the finale of Season 3 — just when the Mandalorians were all starting to get along.
Spoilers ahead for The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 5.
The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 5 Ending Explained
At the very end of “The Pirate,” after the “good” Mandalorians liberate Nevarro from the pirates, we switch back to New Republic X-wing pilot, Carson Teva, as he discovers a derelict shuttle adrift in space. Turns out, this was Moff Giedon’s prison shuttle, which, presumably, would have transported him to trial on Coruscant following the events of the Season 2 finale, “The Rescue.”
The revelation that Gideon is alive gets a massive twist when Teva spots a shard of beskar in the wreckage of the shuttle. The implication is clear: Mandalorians were involved, but which ones?
Within The Mandalorian, we’ve seen at least two different types of Mandalorians: The Children of the Watch and more conventional Mandalorians (like Bo-Katan Kryze the Nite Owls). But as the Armorer suggests in Episode 5, there are more clans of Mandalorians out there, and one of those tribes actually straight-up fought for the Empire. Willingly.
Of course, it’s also possible that the Remnants of the Empire rescued Moff Gideon and framed the Mandalorians to cover their tracks, but the existence of evil Mandalorians is arguably much more interesting.
Imperial Super Commandos, explained
Because Moff Gideon was rescued by Mandalorians, it seems like Season 3 is about to reveal live-action versions of Imperial Super Commandos. First introduced in Rebels Season 3 in 2016, these Mandalorians hid on the moon of Mandalore, Concord Dawn. They wear all-white beskar armor and, unlike other sects of Mandalorians, they decided to work for the Empire after the fall of Mandalore.
From a design point of view, the look of the Super Commandos comes from early concept art for The Empire Strikes Back, back when the backstory of Boba Fett was very different. The last known leader of the Super Commandos was Tiber Saxon, who perished in the Rebels episode “Heroes of Mandalore” (the same episode where Bo-Katan gets the Darksaber). But sometime between that moment in Rebels (2 BBY) and The Mandalorian Season 1 (9 ABY), Moff Gideon got the Darksaber.
Were the Super Commandos involved in the mystery of the Darksaber too?
Is Moff Gideon a Mandalorian?
If the Empire-loyal Mandalorian Super Commandos are the ones who liberated Moff Gideon, then suddenly, it becomes very possible that Moff Gideon himself is a Mandalorian, at least technically. If Gideon was a member of the Imperial Super Commandos, then it stands to reason he was also a twisted Mandalorian. This would explain why he had the Darksaber in Season 1, and would also neatly connect him with the larger mythology of the show.
At this point, it seems obvious that The Mandalorian Season 3 will have to show us which Mandalorians rescued Gideon — assuming it was really a Mandalorian at all. But if it was, it seems very likely that those will be revealed to be Super Commandos.
But what happens after that is less clear. If Bo-Katan is going to unite all the Mandalorian tribes, she’s going to have a very hard time with the clan that still works for the Empire.
The Mandalorian streams on Disney+.
