In the ever-evolving Star Wars universe, fans will soon be seeing the first live-action TV series with The Mandalorian. Created by the astonishingly busy Jon Favreau, with a premiere set for Disney+'s streaming service, The Mandalorian has a lot of expectations to meet, and it's hard to know how it'll fare compare to the movies. But much like the animated series that came prior, The Mandalorian will likely feature a number of cameos from pre-existing characters both big and small scattered through the constantly expansive and obsessed-over Star Wars franchise.
Viewers can be certain that The Mandalorian is going to pack in a lot of surprises, and there's no telling who or what might be included beyond things that were already announced. The show gets to spend more time with characters than the Star Wars universe usually allows, and on a weekly basis, no less. It would be foolish to not take that opportunity to provide some fun cameos and surprise sightings along the way from fan-favorite background characters and major players too. Therefore, while trying to keep my best educational guesses in mind, I'm some of our predictions for who might appear in here.
Before getting ahead of myself, however, it should be noted that despite the fact that some people mistakenly think that The Mandalorian is about the similarly costumed Boba Fett, it's not. In fact, Jon Favreau has stated Boba Fett is not making an appearance on the show, stressing that the streaming series will focus almost entirely on new characters. Of course, there is the possibility that Boba Fett will make a cameo in a later season, assuming Favreau was being fully on the level about Season 1. In any case, Favreau's claims are why Boba Fett isn't included on this list, much as his presence would be welcomed.
With that out of the way, let's put on our thinking hats and make some informed-ish guesses as to who might pop up in Disney+'s The Mandalorian!
Bossk
Making his first appearance in The Empire Strikes Back, where he was enlisted by Darth Vader to hunt down the Millennium Falcon, Bossk is a fellow bounty hunter that is considered one of the most feared hunters in the galaxy. The character is a reptilian known for hunting Wookiees, for some reason or another. (Possibly because Wookiess are huge.) He's also one of the aliens who helped mentor a young Boba Fett.
Bossk has appeared in The Clone Wars, where his character was fleshed out more, but he hasn't been seen in live-action form since the early trilogy. The Mandalorian, therefore, would be a good, sensible way to bring Bossk back into the fold, as it wouldn't be impossible to imagine our new bounty hunter character crossing paths with Pedro Pascal's titular character. Unofficial reports surfaced last year stated a high possibility that Bossk will be showing up (along with another character we will mention momentarily). Considering Bossk wasn't seen in the trailer, we'll have to wait for The Mandalorian's arrival to see whether the reptilian hunter is involved or not.
Dengar
Sometimes known as Payback, the simply titled Dengar was first introduced in The Empire Strikes Back, and he also made a brief appearance in Return of the Jedi. Since then, though, he has only made an appearance in a single episode of The Clone Wars, where he was voiced by Simon Pegg.
Dengar hasn't been seen or heard about much since, outside of some comics, so The Mandalorian could be a great opportunity to bring him back into the fold. It would likely require a recasting, unless the creative team would do something similar to how Rogue One CGI-handled Peter Cushing's Tarkin (which I hope they don't). But it would make a lot of sense that this bounty hunter would also be found in here, so perhaps the recasting would be worth it.
Maz Kanata
There were rumblings around the Star Wars rumor mill that some fully motion-captured characters will be included in The Mandalorian to cause chaos alongside the physical actors. The show has a big budget, looks like its visuals could be on par with the movies. Therefore, it's not hard to believe that they'll squeeze some money out to bring back the fan-favorite Maz Kanata.
The thousand-year-old character, played by Academy Award-winner Lupita Nyong'o, has played a pivotal role in the new Star Wars trilogy, with much experience and sage wisdom guiding her. It's clear that Maz Kanata has a lot of experience in the underworld, and so she probably knows more than a few shady people, including bounty hunters like our central Mandalorian.
IG-88
Admittedly, this choice is made with a bit of a wink involved. Based on the trailer that premiered at D23, it appears that one IG droid will be making it into The Mandalorian, with Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi voicing a bot called IG-11. But two droids can always be better than one, right?
It's not so hard to imagine that IG-88 could show up in the series, considering The Mandalorian's post-Jedi timeline. As well, the droid was considered to be Boba Fett's number one rival, making him a primo character to serve as a troublemaker for Pedro Pascal's protagonist, even if he isn't a key villain.
These are just some predictions, of course, and we can't confirm any of them until The Mandaoliran premieres on November 12, 2019, exclusively on Disney+. The show has already won over many potential viewers with its gripping and visually striking trailer, and it might be what convinces some folks to buckle down and subscribe to yet another streaming service. If Star Wars fans decide to throw down their hard cash and check out the show, it wouldn't be terribly surprising if they saw any or all these particular characters making their way into the fold.
What do you all think about these picks? Let us know if you agree, and if there are some other established Star Wars characters you'd expect to see, in the comments below.
