It seems like it was only yesterday when Baby Yoda warmed the hearts of millions of Star Wars fans around the galaxy in Disney+’s The Mandalorian, but nearly a year has passed since we first met the cute and powerful little guy and the bounty hunter who went from his captor to his protector. And many of us are wondering — when can we expect to see Season 2 of the fan-favorite series, its characters (both old and new), and what can we expect from the second season of the Emmy-nominated series. Well, here is everything we know about Season 2 of The Mandalorian. And for the uninitiated, there are spoilers for Season 1 of The Mandalorian throughout this guide.
When Does Season 2 Of The Mandalorian Premiere?
News of the Mandalorian Season 2's premiere date has been trickling in in pieces, starting with Jon Favreau sharing a post-finale update on when we can generally expect to see the show's return, vaguely mentioning "Fall 2020." Right now, that's looking like October 2020, specifically.
Season 1 of The Mandalorian entered production in October 2018 and first debuted on Disney+ on November 12, 2019, which was a little more than a year after filming got underway. That led us to think that we might have to wait until November or December for Season 2 to premiere, however in February 2020, Bob Iger revealed that The Mandalorian Season 2 would be arriving in October 2020. And fans of the series who were worried about the premiere being delayed because of the Coronavirus pandemic shouldn't worry as Disney CEO Bob Chapek confirmed in May 2020 interview with CNBC that principal photography of Season 2 was completed before the outbreak.
Jon Favreau himself confirmed in June 2020 that The Mandalorian would be hitting its proposed October release date while speaking at the ATX Festival (via ComicBook.com), stating:
We were lucky enough to have finished photography before the lockdown, so thanks to how technology-forward Lucasfilm and ILM are, we've been able to do all the editing visual effects remotely... It will be available as planned on Disney+ in October. It will be building on hopefully what people loved from the first season. It doesn't feel like the next season, it feels like work continuing... I hope people are having as much seeing it as we are having making it.
With that being said, hopefully, we all get our first look at the highly anticipated footage sooner rather than later.
Boba Fett Will Be In Mandalorian Season 2
In a bit of news that surprised everyone, it was revealed in May 2020 that Boba Fett would be returning to Star Wars, at least in a live-action production or as the bounty hunter, for the first time since fans watched him fall in the sarlac pit in Return Of The Jedi, nearly 40 years ago. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Temuera Morrison, the actor who played Jango Fett in Attack Of The Clones, will be stepping in to fill the shoes of the galaxy's most notorious bounty hunter. How Boba Fett plays into The Mandalorian remains to be seen, but it's safe to say that everyone is excited to see his return.
Rosario Dawson Has Been Cast As Ahsoka Tano
Boba Fett won't be the only character to make a return to Star Wars cannon in Season 2 of The Mandalorian as Rosario Dawson has been announced to portray the beloved Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels character Ahsoka Tano when the Disney+ series returns in fall 2020. Despite being one of the voices that speaks to Rey in The Rise Of Skywalker, this will be the first live-action appearance for the former Padawan to Anakin Skywalker.
Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackhoff Has Been Cast As Bo-Katan Kryze
Also making their live-action Star Wars debut will be Bo-Katan Kryze, the Mandalore leader and former Death Watch lieutenant who fans might remember from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Fans of the stellar animated series will probably recognize the character's voice when she appears in Season 2 of The Mandalorian, as Katee Sackhoff will be reprising the role. In addition to voicing the character in nine episodes over the course of the Clone Wars series, Sackhoff is also known for her portrayal of Kara "Starbuck" Thrace on Battlestar Galactica.
Timothy Olyphant Has Been Cast As Cobb Vanth
It looks like Timothy Olyphant is getting back into the world of neo-westerns with his casting as Cobb Vanth in Season 2 of The Mandalorian. The news was first reported by Slashfilm in May 2019, and according to the outlet, the Deadwood star had already filmed some of his scenes. For those not familiar with the character, Vanth is a freed slave from Tatooine who finds Boba Fett’s iconic Mandalorian armor sometime after the fall of the Galactic Empire following the events of Return of the Jedi. How the character comes into the picture in the upcoming season of the Disney+ series remains to be seen, but it could mean that Mando and company return to the desert planet at some point.
The Terminator’s Michael Biehn Will Play An Unnamed Bounty Hunter
Din Djarin and Boba Fett aren’t the only bounty hunters that will be appearing in Season 2 of The Mandalorian, as longtime James Cameron collaborator Michael Biehn has been cast as a bounty hunter whose identity has not yet been revealed. The news was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter in March 2020, when it was revealed that the star of ‘80s sci-fi classics like The Terminator and Aliens had joined the cast in an unspecified role.
What Characters Are Returning In The Mandalorian Season 2?
There will be some great additions to the cast of The Mandalorian when Season 2 finally drops, but what about the cast from the show’s first season? We already know that Bill Burr won’t be returning as the smart-mouthed mercenary Mayfield when we pick up with Mando and gang, but what about everyone else? Here’s what we know so far...
Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Baby Yoda
More than a few moments went by where we thought that maybe, just maybe, Mando himself might fall prey to the dying breath of the Galactic Empire in the Season 1 finale, but his story thankfully isn’t over quite yet. With that being said, we will be seeing Din Djarin and Baby Yoda continuing their adventures in Season 2, wherever they may take them.
Cara Dune (Gina Carano)
We last saw the former shock trooper turned mercenary agree to serve as an enforcer for Carl Weathers’ Greef Karga under the condition she be granted a clean slate throughout the galaxy. This definitely doesn’t seem like a grand send-off for Gina Carano's Dune, but rather the start of a new life journey for the character. And Carano confirmed her involvement in the upcoming season in with a series of Instagram posts in March 2020 where she revealed that she had finished filming her scenes.
Greef Karga (Carl Weathers)
If we expect to see Cara Dune prominently featured when Season 2 picks up, we can also expect to see Greef Karga returning as well. With Carl Weathers stepping in as one the show’s directors in Season 2, we’ll probably see a larger role from the leader of the Bounty Hunter’s Guild as The Mandalorian continues to strengthen his character and motivations. Weathers previously told SFX (via GamesRadar) that his Greef Karga will be playing a larger role in Season 2, stating:
I think [Greef’s backstory] is more saved for Season 2. But you get some glimpses at Greef and who he is through the stories in the first season. There’s some real strong indications that give you some idea of who he is. But we never let on completely.
What that means for Greef Karga and his role in Season 2 remains to be seen, but we do know that leader of the Bounty Hunters' Guild will be showing back up for at least one more go.
Moff Gideon
We will be seeing more of Giancarlo Esposito’s Moff Gideon, the mysterious Imperial marshal who made his superb entrance in the final moments of Season 1's penultimate episode when the show returns. We still don’t know a lot about the character, his amazing TIE fighter, or the darksaber he carries around, but the we do know that the Breaking Bad star will be returning for Season 2 of The Mandalorian. Whether he remains a villain or not remains to be seen, however.
On the flip side of all those characters' presumed returns, we almost definitely won't be seeing returns from Werner Herzog’s The Client, Nick Nolte’s Kuiil, since both of those characters met their fates in the final moments of the Season 1 penultimate episode. The same can likely go for Taika Waititi’s IG-11 and most of the Mandalorians, as all but one of the warriors were wiped out before the credits rolled. (That said, we've seen IG-11 return from the "dead" before, so it's possible it could happen again.)
What We Know About The Darksaber
Speaking of Moff Gideon and his mysterious darksaber… it sounds like we’ll be getting more of both as Giancarlo Esposito revealed during a 2020 conversation with Deadline where he revealed that the character and his weapon of choice will be a major part of Season 2 of The Mandalorian, stating:
You’ll see more of the darksaber, you’ll get the explanation of this ancient weapon to the modern world, a collapsed world. Where did this saber come from and how was it revived? It’s a key in our second season, which will be back sooner than later.
In the same conversation, Giancarlo Esposito explained that the dark-bladed saber, which was featured prominently in The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels before showing up in The Mandalorian, will be a major part of revealing Moff Gideon’s past and his motivations moving forward. How this plays into the story of the upcoming season or its connection to Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan Kryze (who played a big role in The Clone Wars) remains to be seen and it looks like we’ll have to wait until new episodes drop to find out.
What Directors Will The Mandalorian Showcase In Season 2?
We know that creator Jon Favreau will be returning to The Mandalorian to run the show for its second season and that he will sit in the director’s chair for at least one episode. However, it's still a mystery what other filmmakers will be around in Season 2 to follow up the list of talented filmmakers that brought Season 1's installments to life.
It was previously announced that one of the cast members from the first season will step behind the camera for at least Season 2 episode. During a press junket for The Mandalorian shortly before the first season was released, Jon Favreau revealed that Carl Weathers, who portrays bounty hunter head honcho Greef Karga, will be joining the cast of directors when Mando continues his journey. During that junket, Favreau had this to say about Weathers:
By Carl being there and being part of it, and seeing how we were putting this together, experimenting with it and seeing it all come together, he was perfectly qualified. He understood the story, he understood the characters, the cast, and the technology. So it’s really fun to be working for Carl now.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson is also willing to throw his name in the hat of potential directors, as he recently told CinemaBlend’s ReelBlend podcast that he would be down to join the show.
Man, If I had the time, I would get in there in a heartbeat. I had a set visit for Season 1 and it looked amazing. It looked like so much fun!
Maybe Johnson, who recently released the critical and commercial success Knives Out, could fall back in the good graces of Star Wars fans following his previous experience with the franchise, which has been put under the microscope all over again with the release of The Rise of Skywalker.
In May 2020, it was announced that Alita: Battle Angel director Robert Rodriguez and Ant-Man filmmaker Peyton Reed would both be directing at least one episode in the upcoming season.
Whoever comes on to direct the rest of the episodes will have a lot to live up to after the band of directors who were put in charge in Season 1, which included Dave Filoni, Rick Famuyiwa, Deborah Chow, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Taika Waititi. We know that Waititi, who sat in the director's chair for the Season 1 finale, won't be coming back to direct in Season 2 due to prior engagements, but Oscar-winning director will return to Star Wars as it was announced in May 2020 that the New Zealand native will get a movie of his own set in the universe.
Where Can You Stream Past Seasons Of The Mandalorian?
Season 1 of The Mandalorian is currently streaming on the Disney+ platform in America, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, and Puerto Rico, and became available in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom on March 20, 2020. That should give viewers in most Western European countries more than enough time to binge the first season before Season 2 premieres later in the year.
What Is The Mandalorian’s TV Rating?
Every episode in Season 1 of The Mandalorian had a rating of TV-PG for violence. Disney had previously stated that no adult-geared or R-rated content will stream on the platform, so it’s safe to say that Season 2 will have the same content rating as its predecessor.
How Many Episodes Will There Be In Season 2 Of The Mandalorian?
We still don’t know how many episodes will make up Season Two of The Mandalorian. The first season featured a total of 8 episodes, including the Season 1 finale that gave fans a post-Christmas boost. So unless there are some major shake-ups behind the scenes, we might expect to see around the same number of episodes when the show returns for Season 2.
Fans would likely be happy to get more than eight episodes of Pedro Pascal's Mandalorian and Baby Yoda flying off on adventures throughout the galaxy, so fingers crossed that the creative team can squeeze out something extra. Still, though, it's sometimes better to be left wanting more than to have too much.
What Happened At The End Of The Mandalorian Season 1?
During the Season 1 finale, The Armorer – who serves as the de facto leader of the surviving Mandalorians – revealed what viewers were already aware of, that Baby Yoda is force sensitive. In giving the bounty hunter a signet featuring the mudhorn that was defeated earlier in the season. The Armorer also told Mando that he is now tasked with protecting The Child until either finding his homeland, or until Baby Yoda is all grown up.
Following those revelations, Mando and the rest of the group were making an escape through tunnels of lava (naturally), and IG-II justified his rewired circuits once more by sacrificing himself to ensure “The Child” remained protected against Stormtrooper threats. But before the group could continue their journey, Mando had to take on Moff Gideon once and for all in a high-octane sequence. Using an explosive charge, Mando eventually brought the TIE fighter down and saved himself with his newly acquired jetpack. But by the looks of the final scene, which featured a familiar Star Wars weapon in the form of Gideon's darksaber, we haven’t seen the end of this evil villain, nor his plan to acquire The Child.
That’s all we know about the upcoming season of The Mandalorian, but only for now. We should have more information about Season 2 and what to expect in the coming weeks, so make sure to check back for all the latest news. And don’t forget to check out our Fall 2020 TV premiere schedule to see what awesome shows you can get obsessed with while you wait for Mando and Baby Yoda to come back into your life.
