MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD for Episode 4 of The Mandalorian Season 2 on Disney+, called "The Siege."
The Mandalorian is halfway through its second season, and the latest episode saw Mando make a detour on his journey to try and find Ahsoka Tano to get some Razor Crest repairs done on Nevarro, which meant a reunion with Cara Dune and Greef Karga along with some big reveals about Moff Gideon and Baby Yoda cuteness. That said, "The Siege" delivered some laugh-worthy moments that extended beyond Baby Yoda and his space macarons. Eagle-eyed viewers may have caught what is bound to go down as an all-time Star Wars favorite goof.
In the climactic scene of Mando, Cara, and Greef Karga trying to blast their way out of the lab base that was stocked with a whole lot of stormtroopers who they weren't expecting, there was more going on than the heroes' backs going up against the wall. In fact, there was somebody else behind them who I'm pretty sure wasn't supposed to be there. Take a look, and be sure to pay attention to the far left!
Unless the remnants of the beaten Empire instituted a Casual Friday policy for stormtroopers in the aftermath of Return of the Jedi, I'm going to go ahead and assume that the person wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a watch lurking in the background is a member of the crew.
I wouldn't blame anybody in the Star Wars universe who's actually supposed to be in the scene for hiding while Mando and Co. are blasting their way through the corridors vs. some stormtroopers -- not least because the stormtroopers' aim hasn't improved since the original trilogy -- but that definitely looks like somebody who didn't know how wide the camera angle was going to be. Oops?
It's no Game of Thrones coffee cup or even a stormtrooper bumping his head in A New Hope, and a pretty understandable goof in my book, but definitely worth a laugh following the intense episode that didn't exactly end on a promising note for Mando and Baby Yoda. In the hours following the debut of "The Siege" on Disney+, fans were taking to social media with their own ideas about the crew member who is now part of Star Wars canon.
Star Wars seems to have a backstory for just about everything in the galaxy far, far away (aside from any details about Yoda's species, anyway), so it would definitely be fun if The Mandalorian just embraced the goof and explained the crew member as somebody who definitely, totally, 100% was a character who belonged in the episode.
One of the funniest things about the goof in my book is that the wardrobe of the person in the background is so clearly modern to the real world. Sure, what looks like a watch could have been explained away as some kind of Star Wars lab gadget, but I don't remember jeans and t-shirts ever becoming part of Star Wars canon, and I definitely haven't seen any characters wandering around Imperial bases in them.
The biggest question of all really may be how exactly the crew member remained in the shot all the way through to the final edit. A lot of attention to detail must go into the finished product of such a high-profile series as The Mandalorian, after all. Will Disney+ pull a Game of Thrones and quietly edit the man out of the background, like what happened with the infamous coffee cup at Winterfell? Or just embrace the new member of the Star Wars universe?
I for one am hoping that he stays in and just becomes a fun bit of trivia in the Star Wars saga. See what happens next for Mando and Baby Yoda (and any stray crew members in the background) with new episodes of The Mandalorian on Fridays at 12:01 a.m. PT on Disney+. For some viewing options in the new year once The Mandalorian has come to an end for Season 2, be sure to check out our 2021 winter and spring premiere schedule.
