SPECULATION First official image from 'The Mandalorian'

After reading the Aftermath Trilogy, I have a feeling that this story will be about a character that we met in a couple of interludes in Aftermath and Life Debt. In Aftermath, we find a classic western/ronan story of a local citizen taking the law into his own hands, trying to fend of the mining companies encroaching on Jabba’s former territory. He finds some Mandalorian armor in a Jawa Sandcrawler that they found out in the wastes near the Sarlacc pit. The inference the novels made is that it may be Fett's armor. In Life Debt, we see a local uprising of vigilantes has joined him claiming to enforce the law, and are attempting to grow their ranks. This sounds like a great show with fun western and Japanese samurai themes that can be easily used to tell a compelling and recognizable story. If it ends up being something else, that's fine, but it seems like story group set up this story in the book series that happens to line up far too conveniently with what we know about this show.

 

That's a very insightful guess, and now that you've brought it to my attention, I'd be slightly bummed if it was anything other than that. Welcome to the Cantina!

Concerning the image at hand, though, I love how they kept the design simple and grounded. No reason to reinvent the wheel, but the more composite nature of the armor speaks that the character is probably either someone who isn't on good terms with the rest of his culture or has spent a long time on the frontier, far away from his home.

 

Thanks. I've been reading the Cantina since before TFA came out and finally have enough time, plus I want to give my friends a break from hearing all of my Star Wars thoughts.

Anyway. I love the costume design. It looks bare and unpainted or at least scrubbed of its former identity. The leg plates are mismatched and the various pieces of armor look like someone putting together a suit out of found scraps. That points to someone who may not actually be a Mandalorian but is using the identity of a Mandalorian warrior to accomplish his/her desired identity/image. Tatooine likely still has a strong memory of Boba Fett and his legend will only enhance the power that our character can possess. There are countless stories about squire and commoners wearing a knight's armor in medieval and in Japanese culture, so I can see them drawing upon those ideas to tell a Yojimbo/Dollars Trilogy style narrative.

 

Can't wait for this one, this tincan means business.

 

I had the same thought -- this is an expansion of that moment in Aftermath. It's a way of hat-tipping the "legacy" of the Fetts while starting something new. I also agree with the speculation that the person wearing the armor is not Mandalorian, but maybe someone who is on the run and takes on a disguise in haste but then keeps it, or someone who wants to be more than what life has allotted them and dons the armor as a kind of superhero costume.

 

(Edited because I'm stupid and wrong ;-) Never mind ).

 

if this is an expansion on Aftermath, i demand Sinjir! : D

 

New stories with new characters, please!

 

i did say if. i wouldn't mind seeing the Aftermath characters on the screen, but if they're going to pull any of them, they ought to pull Sinjir too.

that said, i'm all for new characters as well. (and no dark sabers). XD

 

Just wanted to clarify something from my previous post. While it would be great to see the Aftermath crew at some point (we've already seen Snap in VII), this story will probably have nothing to do with them while being an extension of a storyline introduced in a couple of small side narratives from the interludes. The interludes themselves are ripe for storytelling and they tried to use the one of Lando retaking Bespin in that failed game they released a few years ago.

 

Agreed. The lighting isn't right either.