The latest trailer for “The Mandalorian and Grogu” is really interested in not letting the past die. The continuation of the first live-action “Star Wars” TV show takes the titular Mandalorian, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), and his adopted son Grogu on a grand, nostalgic adventure. Taking place at some point after the events of “The Mandalorian” season 3, the movie finds the titular pair on a mission involving the New Republic and the remnants of the Galactic Empire.
Along the way, they will meet plenty of familiar faces. This movie is set to bring back Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios (Steve Blum) from “Star Wars Rebels,” Rotta the Hutt (Jeremy Allen White) from the “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” movie, and the Anzellans from “The Rise of Skywalker.” We’re even getting the forgotten bounty hunter Embo in “The Mandalorian and Grogu.”
Indeed, this movie seems to be more preoccupied with bringing back old and forgotten things rather than paving a path forward for the future of the franchise. Not only are we getting a bunch of cameos and guest appearances from several Glup Shittos, but even the Mandalorian’s old spaceship is back. Yes, the ship that was blown to smithereens in season two. Somehow, the Razor Crest has returned.
Of course, director Jon Favreau has a perfectly good reason to bring back the ship, or at least a ship that looks exactly like it. As Favreau told Polygon, “He’s in a Razor Crest now, which is the ship that he originally had. He’s in the same model of ship.” So, it’s not the same ship, but it’s one that looks just like it that Din Djarin happened to find at some old garage off-screen? Not only is this a dumb reason, it is infuriating.
The return of the Razor Crest
What makes the return of the old ship of Pedro Pascal’s Djin Djarin is that this is not the destroyed ship reforged. No, this is as dumb as Din Djarin simply finding an exact copy of his old ship then painting some yellow stripes across its hull. It makes the Razor Crest nothing more than a random Chevrolet.
The choice to bring back the ship is an unfortunate one, a choice that illustrates the worrisome state of live-action “Star Wars” post “Andor.” Whether it was intentionally a part of his arc or just a way to sell more toys, “The Mandalorian” did say something about its titular bounty hunter by destroying his old ship. It signified a change in his arc as he moved from aimless bounty hunter and into the role of hero. Not for nothing, the ship he replaced the Razor Crest with was a modified Naboo N-1 starfighter, the same one Anakin Skywalker piloted into winning the Battle of Naboo (and it has a pretty cool toy version too). It complimented his role in leading the charge to take back Mandalore or at least the first expedition into the planet.
That we are back to the first ship for “The Mandalorian and Grogu” is silly enough, but to have such a weird reasoning behind it is almost insulting.
The future of “Star Wars” is wide open, with no discernible big picture story in the near future. We don’t know what the future of the franchise looks like, whether it will be a Marvel-style interconnected story leading up to a big event blockbuster or something like the late-stage DC universe with unconnected fun adventures. Regardless, this preoccupation with focusing on the past, is not a good look for the future of the galaxy far, far away.
