Lucasfilm already dropped one new Mandalorian character poster last week to celebrate Giancarlo Esposito’s long-awaited return to the series as Moff Gideon. But the season’s penultimate episode also featured some other Star Wars characters we’ve already met before— although fans have never seen them quite like this. Ahead of this week’s finale, the studio has released some additional key art highlighting the Grogu-piloted IG-12 along with a trio of Praetorian Guards. You can view both posters below.
Last month’s season opener made it look as if the show was building toward the return of Taika Waititi as IG-11, whose heroic redemption in The Mandalorian’s first season finale remains one of the show’s best moments. But without a memory core to restore the droid, viewers needed to settle for the next best thing. In last week’s episode, Greef Karga surprised Mando by having the Anzellans retrofit IG-11’s chassis (now rechristened as IG-12) with a miniature driver’s seat for Grogu, And while it’s definitely a step up from his floating pram, giving that much firepower to a literal baby isn’t without its drawbacks, as we saw in the episode’s market scene. Regardless, Grogu did use his new exosuit to keep Paz Vizsla and Axe Woves from killing each other, so maybe the benefits outweigh the risks.
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By now, it seems clear that The Mandalorian is laying the groundwork for the rise of the First Order, which served as the main group of antagonists in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. So it makes sense for a few characters from those films to show up, even disposable ones like the Praetorian Guards. In Star Wars: The Last Jedi, these soldiers were introduced as Supreme Leader Snoke’s personal bodyguards, who were dressed in crimson armor and armed with weapons that can pierce the Mandalorians’ Beskar armor. Unfortunately, Paz Vizsla learned this the hard way at the end of the most recent episode. But at least he was given a hero’s exit.
The third season finale of The Mandalorian streams on Disney+ this Wednesday, April 19.
Are you hoping to see more of IG-12 and the Praetorian Guards in the next episode? Let us know in the comment section below!
Recommended Reading: The Art of Star Wars: The Mandalorian (Season Two)
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