There were several new characters in Episode 6 of The Mandalorian Season 3, “Guns for Hire,” but the eponymous mercenaries were actually characters we’ve seen before. Axe Woves, played by Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D veteran Simon Kassianides, leads the mercenary Mandalorians that Bo-Katan looks to bring into the fold she’s destined to usher into “a new age of Mandalore.”
But just who is Axe Woves? The answer in The Mandalorian’s past — and Bo-Katan’s. The first time we saw Woves was also the first time we saw Bo-Katan back in Season 2 Episode 3, “The Heiress.” In that episode, Din Djarin encountered Bo-Katan with two Mandalorian henchmen: Koska Reeves and Axe Woves. Woves was the less memorable of the pair, mostly because his counterpart was played by a high-profile guest star: Mercedes Varnado, aka former WWE Superstar Sasha Banks.
That was also the last episode directed by Bryce Dallas Howard until this week’s “Guns for Hire.” Between the two, Bo-Katan has lost her entire fleet and her old allies, who are now working for whoever pays the right price.
In the episode’s opening, we see these mercenaries in action as they separate a star-crossed aquatic couple of a Quarren captain and a Mon Calamari nobleman. When he’s carted away by Koska Reeves, the nobleman (voiced by Harry Holland) says, “I thought Mandalorians were honorable. Koska replies, “We are, kid. All it takes is a few credits.”
That is Axe Woves’ code of conduct. While the Children of the Watch may believe in The Way, and Bo-Katan and her family believe in their birthright, Axe Woves, Koska Reeves, and the rest of the mercenaries believe in the ultimate honor of capitalism. They’re not there to make moral judgments, they’re just there to get paid. And as Mandalorians, they can charge a premium. But now that Bo-Katan is the wielder of the Darksaber, it looks like these money-hungry warriors see that there’s something greater in the works: a new age of Mandalore.
The Mandalorian is now streaming on Disney+.
