The Mandalorian and Grogu may release on May 22, but the plot for the next Star Wars movie is still something of a mystery. Releasing on May 22, The Mandalorian and Grogu will bring Star Wars back to the big screen at last. Star Wars’ latest trailer has done a good job of building the hype, offering a thrilling glimpse of a galaxy on the brink of turmoil during an Imperial resurgence.
Director Jon Favreau has form for hiding big reveals and major twists; Grogu was a closely-guarded secret until The Mandalorian premiered in 2019. The problem, of course, is that it’s much harder to conceal elements of a movie than it is for a TV show. Marketing for The Mandalorian and Grogu hasn’t quite landed, with a surprising Star Wars Super Bowl TV spot that didn’t quite achieve the “Lilo and Stitch” effect. Still, Favreau has admitted some more clues are now being offered, not least through the first official Mandalorian and Grogu tie-in and merchandise announcements. Which means theories are building about one specific point…
We Don’t Really Know Who The Mandalorian and Grogu’s Villains Are
It’s a truism that every hero is only as good as their villains. Star Wars has proved that time and again, because it’s impossible to imagine the franchise working without the iconic silhouette of Darth Vader. The very idea of “Mandalorians” hearkens back to The Empire Strikes Back‘s Boba Fett. But we don’t really know all that much about the villains of The Mandalorian and Grogu; we know Din Djarin is hunting the Imperial Remnant (briefly seen in the recent trailer), and Jonny Coyne is playing an Imperial warlord. But we’re yet to see a glimpse of his character, and he’s not been mentioned as a major figure in the film.
Din Djarin will wind up crossing paths with the Hutts, and Jeremy Allen White is voicing the part of Rotta the Hutt, Jabba’s son and a classic character from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. In fact, there’s even evidence the Mandalorian will head to Nal Hutta, the Hutt homeworld. But interviews have suggested Rotta is an ally rather than an antagonist, someone who joins up with Din Djarin for unknown reasons, so the Hutts may not be the true villains either. It’s unusual for Star Wars to hide a villain like this, given the importance of the villain’s silhouette in the franchise, so something strange appears to be going on.
Only Three Members of the Cast Are “Stars”
Lucasfilm recently announced a number of official tie-ins for The Mandalorian and Grogu, including an official “art book.” Curiously, the synopsis for this lists only three stars in the film: Pedro Pascal himself, Jeremy Allen White, and Sigourney Weaver. She’s officially playing a character named “Colonel Ward,” with the trailer suggesting she’s the one who gives Din Djarin his missions. Lucasfilm has made a big deal of Weaver’s Star Wars debut; she is science-fiction royalty, after all. She clearly isn’t going to be wasted on a desk jockey, because action figures have confirmed Colonel Ward is an X-Wing pilot.
There’s just one problem, though; this costume doesn’t make sense in light of the trailer. Ward’s uniform includes three red pips showing she should be working for the New Republic Army rather than the Starfighter Corps, which means she shouldn’t really have an X-Wing; she’s more of a base commander. If she is operating offworld, she should be flying a ship geared towards commanding field operations, one with space for tactical readouts and the like. This inconsistency suggests Lucasfilm is hiding a lot about Colonel Ward and her role in the film.
Tying in to this, we’ve had months now to analyze the first trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu. As exciting as the mission against AT-ATs may be, other scenes appear to show Din Djarin working against Imperial forces who are operating on an oceanic planet of some kind – and the terrain corresponds with Adelphi, the New Republic outpost where Colonel Ward is based and Din Djarin usually takes his orders. It looks as though there’s going to be an Imperial occupation of Adelphi, an actual Imperial strike against a major New Republic base on the Outer Rim.
Is Colonel Ward Actually an Imperial Agent?
What could Lucasfilm be concealing about Colonel Ward? The obvious possibility is that there’s an Imperial attack on Adelphi, and she escapes in an X-Wing. But that would simply turn Ward into yet another sidekick in whatever Din Djarin’s mysterious quest is, and Sigourney Weaver would be wasted in such a role. A more likely possibility is that she is, in fact, the film’s main villain – an Imperial agent who’s quietly undermining Republic operations on the Outer Rim, and who ultimately coordinates the Imperial Remnant’s attack on Adelphi.
The Mandalorian Season 3 already revealed the Imperial Remnant has agents scattered throughout the New Republic, such as Katy O’Brian’s phenomenal Elia Kane. Some of these are former Imperials who have been allowed to start a new life (in something akin to the real-world Operation Paperclip), but who have actually retained their old loyalties. But others could be longstanding spies who served the Empire in secret during the Galactic Civil War, and Ward may well be one of those.
If this theory is correct, then Star Wars has been hiding The Mandalorian and Grogu‘s villain in plain sight all along. This would also neatly explain why marketing this film has been so tough, too; because the entire plot is tied to a major betrayal, and Lucasfilm don’t want to spoil the twist. It’s only a theory at this point, but there’s certainly enough evidence to suggest it as a possibility.
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