Yep, This is Definitely the Way
By: Eric Pierce
Tags: Culture, Star Wars, Movies, Film, Television

When it comes to Star Wars, I am an exceptionally easy get. Decades of following the saga into all sorts of multimedia crannies have left me primed to respond with almost Pavlovian intensity to the familiar sights and sounds of that far-off galaxy. Not quite drooling — I do have some pride — but enough groaning and palm-biting that I have to pull the shades and kill the lights.

The problem is, The Empire Strikes Back aside, Star Wars doesn’t have the greatest track record when it comes to follow-up efforts. For fans, its basically been all downhill since 1980, with some occasional upward bumps to remind us why we care in the first place.

The first season of The Mandalorian was nostalgia done right, homage without all the empty calories. Watching it, I felt like Luke stumbling around Dagobah, marveling at how everything was new but yet familiar. The Mandalorian was the purest distillation yet of OG Star Wars (aka A New Hope). It wasn’t perfect television, wasn’t on the level with the best prestige dramas, but on the whole, it was like blue milk after days wandering the desert — a little bit strange, but refreshing.

All of which is to say, my anticipation for the new season is pretty high. And that was before the new trailer dropped.

So about that trailer.

It opens with the Razor Crest floating in space, rear cargo doors askew and engines sparking. The work of Jawa space pirates? Regardless of the circumstances, in the fine tradition of the Millenium Falcon, it seems Mando will be attending to repairs again. Which makes me think a home improvement-esque show wherein the host travels the galaxy looking for ships with good bones to fix would be a fun in-world diversion.

One more thing on the ship — the ‘derelict in space’ vibe reminds me of the ‘Out of Gas’ episode of Firefly. This is a good thing.

We get a kaleidoscope of the Mando’s galaxy-trotting adventure, with glimpses of a desert (Tatooine?), an ice planet, a cargo ship on the sea, and the cold decor of an Imperial base. And though it’s only a passing shot, I got ridiculously excited to see the shaggy Bantha with its majestic curled horns. Hopefully we’ll get more bartering with Tusken Raiders this season.

Through voice overs, we get some context and perhaps the season’s overarching story. Mando is to deliver the baby to his people, I guess, who we know to be Jedi but the Mandalorians take to be enemy sorcerers. Totally digging the suggestion of Jedi as bad guys. I’m a bit disappointed that Baby Yoda won’t be trained as a foundling, as the conclusion of the first season seemed to suggest. Hopefully this is a head fake of some kind.

X-Wings feature prominently in the trailer, which warms my nerdy heart. They’re only the coolest ships ever. The second time we see them, they’re in hot pursuit of the Razor Crest. In a saga traditionally about black and white, good and evil, the best part of The Mandalorian is how it lingers in the gray areas between the two. The Rebellion may be the ‘good guys’ in the galactic sense, but I’m totally there for a scenario in which they are the antagonist to our favorite babysitting bounty hunter.

My favorite part of the trailer is the bit that takes place beside an underground dueling circuit. This is the kind of Star Wars I want — seedy, black market, illegal, peopled by desperate degenerates. The sort of Star Wars barely even hinted at in the films. The place where ambition and greed collide, where morality has no place. I’m all for the Adventures of Mando and Baby Yoda, but let’s keep them in the galaxy’s dark nooks, rather than directly taking on evil with Force-assisted karate. Make the Jedi the antagonists this once, like an impersonal group of social workers trying to tear a baby from its rightful father.

Gimme Mando and the Baby against the galaxy, basically.

I doubt we’ll get that. But I love how the trailer sets that up as a possibility. And that’s what good trailers do — pose questions, create intrigue, generate excitement.

This isn’t just a good trailer. It’s a great one. Lucasfilm knows how to craft a trailer, one that pings our nostalgia and gets us hyped for the newest thing. But the creative team behind The Mandalorian has already proven they aren’t just playing to emotions. They are interested in telling a good, cohesive story that uses those familiar markers as a jumping off point, not as an end in themselves.

As a lifelong fan, small screen Star Wars is the most exciting Star Wars going right now. And this trailer has only stoked my excitement. October 30th can’t come soon enough.