Why The Mandalorian is Disney’s greatest Star Wars achievement

The Mandalorian channels the spirit of the original Star Wars movie trilogy like nothing in decades, all while forging its own unique identity.

If you’re a die-hard Star Wars fan disappointed by the newer movies from Disney, then The Mandalorian on Disney+ is a must watch. When George Lucas created the galaxy far far away, he drew upon many sources. Star Wars is influenced by Roman history, southern and eastern Asian religious traditions, feudal societies, classic science fiction and fantasy novels like Dune and The Lord of The Rings, operas, and more. All these influences swirl together in a way that has stood the test of time. The world of Star Wars can be a lawless world, one where those with the biggest guns and largest armies control the galaxy and use their power to oppress populations. Lucas always made it a point to have his Star Wars movies serve as an indictment of imperialism and the dangers of colonial politics. This idea was at the center of his critically maligned prequel series. For all his faults, Lucas presents the Star Wars saga as a story that doesn’t boil down to “good vs evil” or “light vs dark.” In the prequels especially, evil is spread legally, subtly, and secretly by elected officials.

Since Disney took over Star Wars, things have changed. In the sequel trilogy, Disney and Lucasfilm took on the task of telling a new story set decades after the fall of the Empire. While I find the sequel trilogy disappointing for a myriad of reasons, where it failed most was in its depiction of politics. The Force Awakens immediately shows us that the galaxy has been taken over by The first Order, which is basically a replica of the Empire complete with Stormtroopers and a scary mask-wearing force user. While I appreciate some of the parallels the movie drew to our world (Stormtroopers being taken from their homes as babies and forced to fight in a military, Kylo Ren worshipping Darth Vader’s mask like a neo-Nazi with third Reich paraphernalia), the lack of originality chafes.

What’s more, the sequel trilogy goes on to devalue the original movies. By the end, we learn that all this time, Emperor Palpatine has been alive and controlling the First Order secretly, behind the scenes. So killing him in Return of the Jedi didn’t matter, establishing a New Republic did nothing, the Rebellion was a waste of time, and in the end the only thing that mattered was a battle between Jedi and Sith.

I’ll stop my criticism there, because I’m starting to get angry. This is why I’ve been so relieved to see what The Mandalorian has contributed to the Star Wars canon.

The Mandalorian takes place directly following the events of the original series, and an estimated 30 years before the events of The Force Awakens. Politically, the show is exploring what happened after the fall of the Empire left a power vacuum in the galaxy. There have been constant power struggles between planets, Imperial remnants, secret societies, and the armies of the New Republic, all trying to establish control. It’s not an easy transition.

Caught in the middle are characters who have to fight for survival no matter which “side” they’re on. Throughout season 1, Din Djarin battles legions of stormtroopers, makes deals with Jawas, saves a village from raiders using Imperial weapons, breaks into a New Republic prison, and gets over his hatred of droids in order to save a mysterious Child (the beloved Baby Yoda). Throughout all of this, the show explores the central idea that people will endure, and the conflicts and battles that the average person faces can be just as grand and important as the Jedi fighting the Sith.

This idea has become even more prominent in the first two episodes of the second season. So far, we have had two standalone adventures; Mando has come no closer to finding any Mandalorians or helping the Child find other creatures of its kind. We haven’t met any Stormtroopers and the only recurring character other than Din and the Child has been spaceport operator Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris). Yet the show has found its heart, and demonstrates a crystal clear idea of the world its building and the story it wants to tell.

In the season 2 premiere, “The Marshal,” we return to Tatooine, the most iconic planet in the Star Wars canon. Luke Skywalker grew up on this desert planet, and it’s the death of his family at the hands of Imperial Stormtroopers that propels him to begin his journey to become a Jedi Knight. In creating this planet, Lucas took inspiration from Frank Herbert’s Dune. Tatooine, like Herbert’s Arrakis, is a desert planet where the main commodity is moisture and villagers are raided by indigenous tribes more accustomed to the harsh conditions of the planet. When we go back to Tatooine in The Mandalorian, the show deepens our understanding of the planet and its people.

Hearing rumors of a Mandalorian on Tatooine, Din finds a seemingly abandoned village in the middle of the desert. There he meets marshal Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant), a gunslinger wearing Mandalorian armor who is protecting the village from Tusken Raiders and the fearsome Krayt Dragon. Vanth explains that when the Empire left the planet, a local mining company immediately marched in with weapons and took over; he was only able to defeat them using the Mandalorian armor he bought off some Jawas. It shouldn’t be lost on viewers that the planet Luke left to defend is still in disarray despite him defeating the Empire and vanquishing evil. Luke is still alive and out there training a new Jedi order, yet his home planet is seemingly left behind. Destroying the Sith and getting rid of the Empire did not stop oppression from happening.

This episode also fleshes out the Tusken Raiders. If you’ve ever read Dune, you know that the indigenous people of Arrakis — the Fremen — are not in fact the real enemies, although they are first presented as fearsome. They have a clearer understanding of how to live on their planet than anyone else, and have been disturbed and displaced by colonizers hoping to mine it for resources. The Mandalorian paints the Tusken Raiders in a similar light. In the original trilogy as well as the prequels, the Raiders are shown as violent savages, enslaving, murdering, and destroying everything in their path with seemingly little reason. It isn’t until this episode of television that we actually see them communicate and get a chance to understand who they are and where they come from. The creators hired a deaf actor to create a unique form of sign language the Raiders use to converse with Din and each other. To them, everyone else is an invader. They have a different way of life dictated by the harsh realities of living in the desert, and it’s only by working with them can the villagers defeat the Krayt Dragon, making everyone’s lives a little safer. The Mandalorian is satisfying for fans because it takes small moments we love from the movies and expands upon them to tell a deeper story that stands apart while still capturing the essence of the original films.

The next episode, “The Passenger,” has Din take on a mission to bring a “Frog Lady” and her offspring to safety on a distant planet where her husband is waiting. They run into problems when the Razor Crest is flagged by X-Wing fighters from the New Republic, which chase Din and company into an icy cavern infested with giant spiders.

Din’s encounters with the X-Wing pilots resemble modern-day policing. The pilots check all sorts of registry information and ask Din to pull over. To placate them, Din says “May the Force be with you” before things get ugly. Din isn’t necessarily a believer in the Force — at the least, he doesn’t know how to describe Baby Yoda’s abilities. This moment shows that the New Republic has roots in the closest things Star Wars has to a religion, roots deep enough that Din knows he must play along if he’s going to survive this encounter. The Mandalorian is setting up the world where the First Order will eventually rise to power.

While the Frog Lady storyline may seem silly, it has extremely high stakes. The Frog Lady explains to Din that her offspring are the last of her race, and if she can’t make it to this planet, they will die. Eventually, the X-Wing fighters save the day and allow Din to go free, but if they had not come back, they would have unknowingly doomed an endangered species to extinction, to say nothing of how valuable Baby Yoda might be to his people. It’s likely there are people across the galaxy in situations like this. Empire, New Republic, First Order…it makes no difference who is in charge when all you can think about is your own survival.

It’s easy to draw comparisons to our world. People fight for power and influence, but at the end of the day millions suffer no matter who is in charge. It’s the small, personal battles we all fight in the midst of this that give life meaning. In exploring themes like this, The Mandalorian makes the Star Wars universe feel weightier and more alive than it has in over a decade.

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