'The Mandalorian' Invites a Fan-Favorite 'Star Wars' Character Along for the Ride

The latest episode of The Mandalorian, titled "The Heiress," packs a ton of plot, exciting action, Star Wars lore, and a cute little tadpole baby into thirty-odd minutes. It's a great episode (another directed by Bryce Dallas Howard!), but if you're not one of the die-hards who have made it their business to watch every single Star Wars thing Disney and Lucasfilm come out with, you may be wondering if there's anything you missed while the show was introducing a bunch of new characters into Mando's world. 

We finally met Bo-Katan Kryze! Or, if you're already familiar with her, we finally met a live-action Bo-Katan Kryze. Katee Sackhoff was tasked with playing the role she voiced in both The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, the two animated Star Wars shows that aired on Cartoon Network and Disney Channel and are now available on Disney+. Outfitted with Mandalorian armor, a red wig, a glowing headband, and some powerful eyebrow makeup, Sackhoff looked the part of Kryze, a one-time lieutenant in terrorist group Death Watch who later turned against the despotic Darth Maul (who, yes, is alive during those shows) and was instrumental in liberating the planet Mandalore—before it fell again into the hands of the Galactic Republic, which rebranded into the Empire. 

Mandalore is pretty much constantly consumed by civil war, and during this one, Bo-Katan Kryze was chosen by two members of Mandalorian clan Wren, Countess Ursa Wren and Sabine Wren (whom many fans suspect is about to appear in a later episode of The Mandalorian), to unite the clans of Mandalore by wielding the legendary Darksaber, a thousand-year-old Mandalorian weapon that is currently in possession of Moff Gideon, last season's big villain. That's why Kryze and her two fellow Mandalorians, Koska Reeves (Sasha Banks) and Axe Woves (Simon Kassianides), are so intent on capturing the Empire's shipping vessel full of weapons. So, how did Moff Gideon take it from her?  

When Mando left Kryze and her buddies, she told him that he can find a Jedi warrior in "the city of Calodan on the forest planet of Corvus" to help him figure out where the rest of Baby Yoda's people are. The name Kryze gives him is Ahsoka Tano, a knight who was once the Padawan of one Anakin Skywalker, and who features prominently in The Clone Wars and Rebels. She'll be played by Rosario Dawson on The Mandalorian, but we may not be meeting her as soon as we think. The name of the planet Kryze mentions, Corvus, is actually canonically the name of a ship—a mid-sized Raider II-class corvette, to be exact—which you may recognize from a few Star Wars video games. It hasn't appeared in anything else so far, and there's always a chance that Mando's just headed to a new planet that hasn't been featured in any Star Wars stuff yet that just happens to bear the name of a very famous warship, but the name Corvus nevertheless pricked some ears. Where is Mando headed, exactly? We'll find out next week.

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