The Mandalorian Connection

I’m an 80s kid and grew up a huge fan of Star Wars. So, when Disney announced it was developing The Mandalorian, I was ecstatic. For those not in the know, The Mandalorian is a Disney+ series that premiered in 2019. It was created and directed by Jon Favreau and stars Pedro Pascal.

The Mandalorian takes place five years after The Return of the Jedi. The show follows a bounty hunter named Din Djarin. He gets more than he expects when he takes a new assignment. Like A New Hope, this show is not a typical sci-fi show, it’s a space western. It is influenced by spaghetti westerns and samurai films as much as it is by the original Star Wars trilogy. In my opinion, this is the best thing to come out of the Star Wars universe since The Empire Strikes Back.

If you love The Mandalorian, you should also check out Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. Both series are currently streaming on Disney+.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars debuted in 2008 and ran on Cartoon Network until 2013. One final season debuted on Disney+ in 2020. The series was directed by Dave Filoni, who would also be a show runner on The Mandalorian. It follows Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker and takes place between the Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith films. The series also introduced Anakin’s padawan, Ahsoka Tano, who quickly became a fan favorite. Later, she would go on to make appearances in both Star Wars Rebels and The Mandalorian.

Star Wars Rebels debuted in 2014 on the Disney Channel and ran until 2018. Directed by Dave Filoni, it takes place 14 years after the fall of the Galactic Republic. It follows a group of people fighting against the Empire. They would later go on to form The Rebel Alliance.

Both animated series are wonderful even for the casual Star Wars fan. Each season is action-packed with complex, interesting story-lines. By including many favorite characters, the shows also connect with the original films. I was pleasantly surprised when Lando Calrissian popped up in an episode of Rebels. They also introduced new characters into the Star Wars universe such as Ahsoka Tano and Weequay pirate, Hondo Ohnaka. (An animatronic Hondo is featured in the queue for the Smuggler's Run ride in Disney's Hollywood Studios) Both have become very popular among fans. Ahsoka and Hondo appear in both series, which is also a nice connection between the two shows.

To be completely honest, I did not see these shows when they first debuted. (I will turn in my Star Wars fan club membership immediately) I binge watched both series, after I watched the first season of The Mandalorian.

So, as a fan of The Mandalorian, why should you watch Clone Wars and Rebels? Well, first of all they are AWESOME! They are fun. For a “kids” show they are very well written. The characters are interesting and well-developed. As the seasons progress you come to care about every character, even the “bad guys”.

The Clone Wars and Rebels are beautifully animated. I love the animation style. Many of the characters are ones we know and love. The character design for the show had to make the characters recognizable but also have its own style. Many of the creature and environment designs were even based on Ralph McQuarrie’s original concept art for A New Hope.

Both series were nominated and won several awards, including multiple Emmy Awards. It deserved every award and accolade it received. In my opinion, creator Dave Filoni is a genius. It blows my mind how he can make the viewer cry, cheer or even get mad at computer generated images.

The best reason for fans of The Mandalorian to watch the animated shows, is that Disney is tying these, and other, series together. In the future, there will be a lot of crossover between live action, animated series and even movies. While it isn’t essential to watch all the shows, viewers will get a richer, more complete experience if they do.

We’ve already seen some crossover. As I mentioned, Ahsoka Tano first appeared in The Clone Wars. But, she made her live action debut, played by Rosario Dawson, in the second season of The Mandalorian. The animated version of her voice, provided by Ashley Eckstein, was also heard in the climax of Rise of Skywalker.

Disney recently announced a lineup of shows that will be coming to Disney+ in the next few years. Among them is a limited series centering around Ahsoka. It will also feature a character named Ezra Bridger. Ezra was one of the main characters of Star Wars Rebels whose fate was in question at the conclusion of that series.

There will also be an animated series entitled The Bad Batch. It focuses on a division of clone troopers we first saw in an episode of The Clone Wars.

I absolutely love The Mandalorian. Because of my love of that show, I checked out the Star Wars animated series and I recommend you do the same.