Set Photos From 'The Mandalorian' Season 3 Confirm Another 'Star Wars' Character's Return

What Could Their Return Mean For The Show?

By Culture SlatePublished 2 years ago • 4 min read

Disney has an ebb and flow working right now, as they switch between various Star Wars projects, the end of The Book of Boba Fett, and the start of Marvel projects. With Moon Knight, media and fan interest is sitting on the Marvel upswing. However, with Obi-Wan Kenobi peaking around the corner, fans are looking even deeper into the year with The Mandalorian Season 3 expected, and hopefully being announced as premiering in 2022.

Every possible set photo and tweet is being meticulously reviewed and scrutinized for possible storylines for the upcoming season. We already have a rough idea, based on the final episodes of The Book of Boba Fett where we last saw the Mandalorian. Din Djarin and Grogu will be travelling around the galaxy with his new ship and his new weapon, the Darksaber, in tow, attempting to reestablish himself as a true Mandalorian, following his excommunication from the order thanks to the Armorer.

But now, thanks to some set photos, we see a familiar, albeit small part, character from The Mandalorian Season 2 popping up and aiding in fleshing out the official plot for the new season. Thanks to a reliable source, Bespin Bulletin, some recent set photos have shown us one of Bo-Katan’s fellow Nite Owls, Axe Woves aka Simon Kassianides, has been spotted onset filming in his Mandalorian armor.

The last we saw of Woves, he was assisting Mando, Bo-Katan, and Koska Reeves in stealing an Imperial cruiser in the episode The Heiress. It was at the end of this episode that Bo-Katan revealed that Ahsoka Tano was still around and that she could help train Grogu, thus fulfilling Din’s quest to “return him to his own kind.” While it was exciting to see all those Mandalorians teaming up to take down the Empire, Axe really didn’t have much in the way of speaking parts or plot development. And when Bo and Koska retuned at the end of the season to help take down Moff Gideon, he was a glaring omission from the team.

There were some questions about where he was during this time and why was he away from Bo-Katan. Things were not made clearer during an interview with Bo-Katan actor Katee Sackhoff on the podcast The Sith Council, where she was asked about his whereabouts during the finale. She responded saying, "he just wasn’t there and there’s a reason. It’s just one of those things where I don’t know if the story is something I’m supposed to tell. So, he’s just not there." The actor himself has been pretty mum on social media, with a quick search of his Twitter not having any activity since mid-November, which ironically enough was around the time filming started for The Mandalorian Season 3 was about to begin. Now that we see Axe reappearing in the series, the question becomes what does all this mean for the show and the potential plot?

When we left The Mandalorian, Jedi Master Luke had left with Grogu, but we had a bit of a Darksaber issue. With Din in possession of the saber, won by combat, what would Bo-Katan do to reclaim the famed sword which should provide her with the power to rule Mandalore? Jump forward to The Book of Boba Fett and we see that Din is indeed still in possession of the sword and, while he needs some work in wielding the blade, it doesn’t appear Katan made a play for the sword in the moment. But in that same reintroduction episode, the Armorer denounced his claim to being a Mandalorian so does it matter now if he holds onto that sword? Perhaps Bo-Katan will get word of this and decide to take the sword once and for all, in order to fulfill her destiny.

Perhaps Axe was off trying to determine the status of Mandalore and what state it is in. We know that the planet was essentially made uninhabitable thanks to the Empire, but perhaps Woves was scouting to figure out how bad it really is, as Bo-Katan was so sure she was going to be coming out of this mission with sword in hand. Regardless, the tease of returning to Mandalore shows that we are in for a great ride, so here’s to an announcement and trailer to come shortly!

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