The Mandalorian brought in new villains to hint at Palpatine’s return

Mandalorian’s latest episode seems to finally start connecting the dots on a tease the show made all the way back in its very first season. The series’ ties to the larger Star Wars universe have always been off and on, sometimes connecting as directly as you can get, and other times preferring references and Easter eggs. But “Chapter 23: The Spies” seems to hint that the whole thing is tied into the Skywalker saga pretty closely, or at least one character’s reappearance in that saga.

[Ed. note: This story contains spoilers for The Mandalorian and Star Wars: Episode 9 – The Rise of Skywalker.]

The Mandalorian’s third season has brought us all over the galaxy in search of a home for Din Djarin and his wayward Mandalorian sect, but it turns out the most important developments for the Star Wars universe were happening on their homeworld of Mandalore the whole time.

The latest episode revealed that Moff Gideon, the antagonist of the show’s first two seasons, built a base on the abandoned, thought to be uninhabitable planet. Taking advantage of Mandalore’s infamous reserves of beskar, he has equipped a new variety of Stormtroopers with beskar armor, mirroring the strength of the Mandalorians’ own signature gear.

While there’s plenty of fighting to go along with Gideon’s return, that isn’t the most important thing that happens in this episode. That honor belongs to a conversation between Moff Gideon and some Imperial Warlords, including Captain Pellaeon and Commandant Brendol Hux — father of Armitage Hux from the sequel trilogy — who are seeking to build the First Order.

Gideon turns the majority of their conversation towards Grand Admiral Thrawn who has not yet returned to leadership. But in talking, references are also made to Hux’s interest in cloning, and his work on something called “Project Necromancer.”

While none of the conversation sheds much light on either topic, the Project Necromancer name certainly seems to imply that this plot could be about bringing Palpatine back with cloning, which would explain why he’s around for Skywalker: The Rise of Skywalker This suggests that Thrawn is more important. It is possible that they played an important role in making this happen.

On top of the project’s name, there’s also the fact that cloning has always been an important, if very subtle, thread in Mandalorian. Dr. Pershing, who got his own episode this season and gets name checked here, specialized in cloning — at least based on the Kaminoan patch on his uniform in the first season.

Of course, if Gideon is going to try to usurp Thrawn’s control of the Imperial Warlords and their remnant fleet, it certainly seems ill-advised. Based on what we’ve seen in The Mandalorian Gideon is known for his love of overstepping boundaries, but he’s mostly adept at manipulating Mandalorians. Worse, for Gideon. Mando villain, we know that Thrawn’s an important part of the future of the franchise. At last week’s Star Wars Celebration 2023 event, it was revealed that Thrawn will be a key part of Disney Plus’ Ahsoka Series, will be voiced by Lars Mikkelsen, his animated series voice actor. None of that spells good news for Gideon’s attempted power play in this week’s episode.

If that really is the purpose that Thrawn serves in the larger Star Wars story, it would make him the glue that patches up one of the series’ most bizarre events. Palpatine has been back since in Rise of SkywalkerHis existence is a common meme. But, perhaps we could figure out the reason Palpatine has returned with some clever retconning by a more intelligent Chiss Grand Admiral.