The Mandalorian to explore the origins of the First Order

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The Mandalorian is going to fill in some of the backstory of a big mystery in the current Star Wars trilogy.

The upcoming Disney+ series is set to explore some of the early origins of the First Order — the dictatorship commanded by Supreme Leader Snoke that rose up to succeed the fallen Galactic Empire that was defeated in Return of the Jedi.

“This doesn’t turn into a good guy universe because you blew up two Death Stars,” Mandalorian director Dave Filoni quipped. “You get that the Rebels won and they’re trying to establish a Republic, but there’s no way that could have set in for everybody all at once. You have in a Western where you’re out on the frontier and there might be Washington and they might have some marshals, but sometimes good luck finding one.”

“Also, what could happen in the 30 years between celebrating the defeat of the Empire and then the First Order?” teased showrunner Jon Favreau. “You come in on Episode VII, [the First Order are] not just starting out. They’re pretty far along.”

“Pretty well equipped,” Filoni added.

“So somehow, things weren’t necessarily managed as well as they could have been if [the galaxy] ended up in hot water again like that,” Favreau said dryly.

Image zoom Everett Collection

In The Mandalorian, Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad) plays Moff Gideon, a former Imperial governor now set adrift in the wake of the Emperor’s downfall. So one possibility could be that Gideon seeks to re-unite the scattered, broken factions, but that’s just our speculation.

There has been an explanation of the rise of the First Order in the Expanded Universe. The books Star Wars: Aftermath by Chuck Wendig and Star Wars: Bloodline by Claudia Gray told of how Imperial remnants fled to the Outer Rim, waged a cold war against the New Republic, and solidified into the First Order six years before the events in The Force Awakens. The Mandalorian plans to use elements from across the Skywalker saga films, The Clone Wars and other animated series and the Extended Universe in its storytelling.

The Mandalorian is the first live-action Star Wars TV series. The drama from showrunner follows a lone bounty hunter (Pedro Pascal) in the outer reaches of the galaxy as he sets out to collect a particularly difficult prize. The show also stars Gina Carano, Giancarlo Esposito, Carl Weathers, Taika Waititi, and Ming-Na Wen.

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