Bounty hunting may be a complicated profession, but the Beat is here to help you catch every Easter egg in The Mandalorian season one. Put the Child in a car seat and grab a camtono of spotchka: here are the Mandalorian Easter eggs!
Life Day
In the cold open of episode one, “The Mandalorian,” the titular Mandalorian, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) captures a fledgling Mythrol (Horatio Sanz) with a bounty on his head.
The Mythrol tells Djarin he hopes to be home by “Life Day,” a reference to the Wookie holiday being celebrated in the Star Wars Holiday Special, which originally aired in 1978.
Djarin’s Gun
Speaking of the Star Wars Holiday Special: did you know it included a cartoon that featured the original appearance of Boba Fett, the first Mandalorian to appear on-screen? He was even armed with the same rifle that we see Djarin carry throughout The Mandalorian.
Djarin’s rifle can disintegrate its target, which may explain why, in The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader tells Fett that there are to be “no disintegrations.”
Carbonite Freezing
Although the fledging Mythrol attempts to escape from Djarin’s clutches, he is soon frozen in carbonite, along with the rest of the bounty hunter’s quarries.
This references The Empire Strikes Back, where Fett’s bounty, Han Solo, is carbon frozen before being loaded aboard the Slave I for transportation to Jabba the Hutt.
Blurrgs
Blurrgs are reptilian livestock that are raised and used as beasts of burden throughout the Star Wars galaxy.
They have been previously seen on the planet Ryloth in both Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels.
Mythosaur
When Djarin is learning to ride the blurrgs, Kuiil the Ugnaught (Nick Nolte) taunts him by asking, “Aren’t you Mandalorian? Your ancestors rode the great mythosaur.”
The mythosaur skull is the armor sigil worn by Fett, and can be seen on his armor in the original trilogy movies. The skull can also be seen on display above the armorer’s forge in The Mandalorian, and on the necklace given to the Child in episode eight.
Camtono of Beskar
As a bounty for the capture of the Child, the Client (Werner Herzog) offers Djarin a “camtono of Beskar.” Beskar is a precious and extremely durable Mandalorian metal, commonly used in the construction of Mandalorian armor. It has made appearances throughout Star Wars canon, and in a season four episode of Star Wars: Rebels, it was revealed that Sabine Wren designed a weapon for the Empire that superheated Beskar to the point that any warrior wearing armor made of the metal would be killed.
However, it isn’t just the contents of the camtono that are remarkable in this instance. The camtono that contains the Beskar is a match for one clutched by Willrow Hood as he flees from the Imperial invasion of Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back.
Heavy Infantry Mando
The heavy infantry Mandalorian who questions our hero’s devotion to the Way is voiced by none other than showrunner Jon Favreau. According to the credits, this character’s name is “Paz Vizsla.”
Favreau first voiced a Mandalorian in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, where he played the character Pre Vizsla, who first appeared in the season two episode “The Mandalore Plot.”
B2 Super Battle Droids / Droid Gunships
In flashbacks to Djarin’s childhood, it is revealed that as a child, he narrowly survived an attack by HMP droid gunships (first seen in Revenge of the Sith) and B2 super battle droids.
The B2 super battle droids were originally introduced in Attack of the Clones and made appearances throughout Star Wars: The Clone Wars. They also appeared on Star Wars: Resistance, when Sidon Ithano sold a cache of vintage B2 droids to pirate captain Kragan Gorr.
Loth-Cat
Loth-cats were first seen on Star Wars: Rebels, where the furry creatures are common on Lothal, home planet of Ezra Bridger.
While they make their first onscreen live-action appearance in episode four of The Mandalorian, “Sanctuary,” you can meet one in-person at the creature stall in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
Long Snoot
Near the end of episode four, a familiar-looking bounty hunter nearly succeeds in assassinating the Child.
This bounty hunter is a member of the Kubaz species. In A New Hope, a Kubaz spy named Garinden ezz Zavor tips off the Empire about the location of C-3PO and R2-D2. A short story in the From a Certain Point of View anthology, “The Secrets of Long Snoot” by Delilah S. Dawson, tells that story from Garinden’s perspective.
Seven Samurai
The plot of episode four is incredibly close to the plot of Akira Kurosawa’s seminal 1954 film “Seven Samurai,” the story of a village that hires seven rōnin to help defend against returning bandits who threaten to steal their crops.
The story also inspired the 1960 Western “The Magnificent Seven,” the 2003 Stephen King novel Wolves of the Calla, and the 2010 Star Wars: The Clone Wars season two episode “Bounty Hunters.”
Tatooine
In episode five, “The Gunslinger,” Djarin visits the familiar planet of Tatooine, which appears in 66.6% of the movies in the Skywalker Saga.
Several familiar locations on the planet are referenced throughout the episode, including Mos Espa, Mos Eisley, the Dune Sea, and Beggar’s Canyon, and there are several references to local fauna, including dewbacks and womp rats.
Familiar Droids
Episode five also includes cameos from several familiar droids. The trio of pit droids resemble those seen working on podracers in The Phantom Menace. The bartender at the cantina Djarin enters while looking for work is manned by two droids who look similar to EV-9D9, the supervisor of Jabba’s droid torture chamber in Return of the Jedi, and an astromech unit rolling around the cantina bears a striking resemblance to R5-D4, the droid that Uncle Owen declined to buy in A New Hope due to its “bad motivator.”
Peli Motto
In one of the many outstanding guest-starring roles of the season, Amy Sedaris plays Peli Motto, a mechanic who runs a business repairing the ships that come through Docking Bay Three-Five.
Her outfit seems to pay homage to Ellen Ripley (Sigorney Weaver) of the Alien series.
Shadows of the Empire
Some elements of episode five are reminiscent of Shadows of the Empire, the 1996 novel/comic/Nintendo 64 video game that was set in the period between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Torro Calican (Jake Cannavale) recalls Shadows protagonist Dash Rendar and a key sequence in Shadows involved bounty hunters traversing the Tatooine desert on swoop bikes, similar to the speeder bikes used to travel the desert in this episode.
Streets of Corellia
When Djarin complains about the speeder bikes, Calican replies, “This ain’t Corellia.”
This references the street racing that takes place on the planet Corellia, as seen in Solo.
Sabacc Cards
Motto and the pit droids are seen playing sabacc, a card game previously seen being played by Lando and Han in Solo.
Fennec Shand
Calican and Djarin are tracking Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), an assassin. The character shares a name with Crokind Shand, a character who appeared in The Force Awakens, but it is unclear if there is any relation between the two characters.
Canto Bight Slot Machine
In episode six, “The Prisoner,” Mayfield (Bill Burr) remarks that the Razor Crest, the Mandalorian’s ship, looks like a “Canto Bight slot machine.” This references the slot machines in the Canto Bight casinos on the planet Cantonica, as seen in The Last Jedi.
New Republic soldier
Matt Lanter, who provides the voice of Anakin on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, plays Davan, the New Republic soldier manning the prison ship.
Ardennian prisoner
One of the prisoners is an Ardennian, a diminutive four-armed alien.
The species made their first appearance in Solo, where an Ardennian named Rio Durant was voiced by none other than Mandalorian showrunner Favreau.
New Republic Strike Team
The New Republic X-Wing pilots who are summoned by the beacon Davan activated are played by three of the show’s first season directors.
Sash Ketter is played by Deborah Chow (who directed episodes three and seven), Jib Dodger is played by Rick Famuyiwa (who directed episodes two and six), and Trapper Wolf is played by Dave Filoni (who directed episode five).
Imperial Troop Transport
The Imperial Troop Transport made its first appearance as a Kenner toy in 1979. Since then, it has made a number of appearances, including on-screen in Star Wars Rebels and in the pages of the 2017 Thrawn comic.
Carasynthia Dume of Alderaan
Moff Gideon reveals that Cara Dume (Gina Carano) is from Alderaan, the planet destroyed by the Empire in A New Hope to demonstrate the power of the Death Star (and punish Princess Leia, to whom Alderaan was an adopted homeworld).
The revelation that Dume is from Alderaan explains her motivation for becoming a shock trooper for the Rebel Alliance and then the New Republic, as well as why she immediately agreed to join Djarin in his return to Nevarro when she discovered that his enemy had been allied with the Empire.
The Night of a Thousand Tears
Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) makes reference to “The Night of a Thousand Tears,” an event that took place during the Siege of Mandalore, which took place near the end of the Clone Wars. The Siege of Mandalore will feature prominently in the seventh season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which begins February 17th, 2020 on Disney+.
IG-11
IG-11 is voiced by Taika Waititi, who directed episode eight, “Redemption.”
Clan Vizsla
The shriek-hawk sigil on the armor of the Mandalorian soldiers who rescue young Djarin was the symbol of Clan Vizsla. Clan Vizsla plays and important part in the history of Mandalore, and members of the family are seen in multiple episodes of both Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels.
The Darksaber
Tarre Vizsla, the first Mandalorian to be inducted into the Jedi Order, build the Darksaber, a unique black-bladed lightsaber. After Vizsla’s death, the Darksaber was kept in the Jedi Temple, until members of Clan Vizsla snuck in and stole it.
In the Star Wars: The Clone Wars season five episode “Shades of Reason,” the Darksaber fell into Darth Maul’s possession after Maul defeated Pre Vizsla in battle, and in the Star Wars Rebels season three episode “Visions and Voices,” Sabine Wren claims the Darksaber after finding it on Maul’s home planet of Dathomir.
The last known person to wield the Darksaber (before Moff Gideon is seen wielding it at the end of this season of The Mandalorian) was in the Star Wars Rebels season four episode “Heroes of Mandalore,” when Sabine Wren passed the blade to Bo-Katan Kryze. How Gideon came to be in possession of the Darksaber is yet to be revealed…
I caught a few of these. Others seemed familiar and now I know why. Do Loth cats make good pets?
Enough with the Disney+ hype.
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