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Star Wars Weekly: The Mandalorian is filled with Clone Wars Easter eggs and SNL is now canon
Time again for STAR WARS WEEKLY, the SYFY WIRE series that rounds up the most important news of the week from a galaxy far, far away. Think of us as your own personal Star Wars Holocron.
MANDALORIAN CLONE WARS
The latest episode of The Mandalorian, Chapter 6, “The Prisoner," is so full of easter eggs and surprise cameos, we might still be discovering new ones in a decade. Perhaps the most surprising easter eggs, though, were all of the cameos from The Clone Wars. The first came in the form of Clancy Brown playing the Devaronian muscle. Star Wars fans might recognize Brown as the voice of Maul's brother, Savage Opress.
The next one we got was from Matt Lanter, the voice of Anakin Skywalker himself. He plays a New Republic Prison Ship guard and doesn't even sound like himself, which speaks to his skill as an actor. The last cameo we had from The Clone Wars was Dave Filoni, arriving in the final moments of the episode in an X-Wing under the name of Trapper Wolf (no surprise there). Hilariously, he arrived in an X-wing with wingmates played by fellow Mandalorian series directors Rick Famuyiwa and Deborah Chow.
THE NEW REPUBLIC
One of the most interesting things in this episode is the new glimpses we're getting of the New Republic. We have a new uniform to look at, with interesting flourishes from different eras and sides. The blue of the uniform matches the color of the pilot uniforms of the New Republic we saw in the opening episode of Star Wars Resistance. The egg-shaped helmet was first seen in A New Hope and became synonymous with some rebel soldiers. They make a point to highlight the boots of the uniform, which look suspiciously like the jackboots of a stormtrooper.
And seeing it all come together on Matt Lanter is nothing short of perfect.
The other fascinating thing is to see the New Republic security droids. They look and walk very much like a "good guy" version of a KX-Series droid, like K2-SO. They're white instead of black, they have more pronounced faces, and they have a rebel Phoenix emblazoned in orange across their back.
In fact, everything about the New Republic prison ship is fascinating in that it looks like a white mirror of the sort of evil holding spaces in Star Destroyers and Death Stars of the Empire. Are they turning into the same thing they defeated?
RESISTANCE RADAR TECHNICIANS
The newest episode of Star Wars Resistance brings to the canon one of the most interesting things we've seen in a long time.
Watch this clip:
Do you recognize that uniform Kaz is wearing? It's the Radar Technician uniform that Saturday Night Live created for a sketch featuring Adam Driver called “Star Wars Undercover Boss: Starkiller Base.”
It's hilarious to see this costume gain so much traction. It started as a joke and everyone embraced it. At Star Wars conventions you can catch as many Matt the Radar Technicians running around together as you can Willrow Hoods, and that's saying something. Now that the costume has made it into the official canon, the 501st will need to be admitting these into their ranks as legit costumes, and that just puts a smile on my face.
This episode of Star Wars Resistance airs on Sunday on Disney and Disney XD. Again, if you're not caught up on this show, get on it. It's a lot of fun and is barreling toward a finale that promises to dovetail right into The Rise of Skywalker.
ILUM AND STARKILLER
Fans of The Clone Wars have had their minds blown as they play through Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. During the game, Cal Kestis travels to Ilum and finds that it's been overrun by the Empire. That doesn't stop him from going in and finding a Kyber crystal, though.
But when you return to the planet in the game, it has undergone a disquieting metamorphosis. It seems as though the Empire began undergoing construction of Starkiller Base long before the first Death Star was even complete. Seems like Palpatine was hedging his bets and working on a variety of plans and super weapons.
Here is Star Wars Explained breaking it down further with information we had prior to the new stuff from the game.
Until next week, when we finally get to close out the Skywalker Saga, May the Force Be With You!
