'The Mandalorian' Season 2 Finale Is a Game Changing Star Wars Moment
The following contains spoilers for The Mandalorian Season Two finale. This is the way.
Frankly, it's cruel and unusual that I should be asked to write about The Mandalorian's finale so soon after having my emotions obliterated—in the form of an unmasking, a gentle touch of the claw, and the biggest and saddest Baby Yoda cuddle you'll ever bear to watch—by The Mandalorian's finale.
Though, as is the case for Baby Yoda, waddling into the hands of a man with a strange bowl cut, sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do. Phew. OK. We all saw it. In the final few minutes of The Mandalorian's final episode this season, the whole crew is bickering in the cockpit of Moff Gideon's ship when a single X-wing soars past the window. There's someone in there. Hooded. Green lightsaber. One gloved hand. In a sequence that mirrors Rogue One's Darth-Vader-goes-Beast-Mode moment, the figure lights up a hoard of baddies. Makes his way upstairs, pulls down the hood, and there you have it: Young Luke Skywalker (brought to life with a CGI-IRL combo performance courtesy actor Max Lloyd-Jones), showing up to adopt Baby Yoda and teach him the ways of the Force.
So soon after the finale, I won't ask you to read along as we try to figure out what one of the most shocking Star Wars moments, maybe ever, means for the future of the universe. But it's here when you're ready.
All right. Seems like Baby Yoda, when Mando put him on top of that big Jedi rock a couple episodes ago, was Force-chatting with none other than Luke Skywalker. We can safely assume that, after the events in that episode, Skywalker jumped in his X-wing on a one-way ticket to meet up with Baby Yoda, so he could offer his Jedi-mentoring services. We've already broken down where Skywalker is in the grand Star Wars timeline at this point, which is pretty important to know. When we meet Skywalker in The Mandalorian, he's a few years removed from the events of The Return of the Jedi. Which means that Skywalker's present raison d'etre is to rebuild the Jedi Order. Clearly, Baby Yoda is part of those plans now. Mando passes the kid over to Skywalker, who says that all will be well again after the green one reaches peak powers.
So, what exactly does that mean for the future of Baby Yoda in Star Wars? Given Disney's new all-spinoff-everything strategy (seriously, look at all of these shows in development), you have to think we'll catch up with Grogu at some point. Maybe Season Three of The Mandalorian will feature a B plot of Baby Yoda-Luke Skywalker training montages. Or a new spinoff that hasn't even been announced yet has the potential to show us a coached-up Baby Yoda. (Who's maybe even talking by then!) In the final three films of the Skywalker Saga, though, Luke is just about ready to burn all of his plans down, so you have to consider the possibility that he failed with Grogu. We know things don't go well for anyone in the 25 years between The Mandalorian and The Force Awakens.
And... I'm not sure if any of us are willing to go there yet. Let's catch up when our tears have dried, OK?
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