The Mandalorian Season 2 leaks tease a shocking Darth Vader connection

In The Mandalorian Season 1, the remains of the fierce galactic Empire were keenly felt. From Werner Herzog's mysterious Client to the darksaber-toting Moff Gideon, the Empire and their stormtroopers are a huge part of the dangerous galaxy which Din Djarin must traverse. In Season 2, we'll almost certainly see more of what the Empire is up to, and it looks like one new bounty hunter will have an overt connection to both the Imperials and Darth Vader himself.

Possible spoilers for The Mandalorian Season 2 ahead.

Over on Making Star Wars, reliable leaker Jason Ward revealed a sketch based on info he's gathered about a new bounty hunter character making their debut in Mandalorian season 2. According to Ward, this bounty hunter will be played by sci-fi legend, Michael Biehn. (In case you've forgotten, Biehn played Kyle Reese in the original Terminator and Hicks in Aliens. Adding him to the cast of Mando is amazing.)

The rumor is that Biehn will play a new bounty hunter who Mando knew before the show got going. And based on what Making Star Wars reveals about this new character's costume, it's a good bet that Michael Biehn will be a kind of reverse Cara Dune — instead of being ex-Rebellion, this guy seems like he's ex-Imperial.

To be clear, there has been no official word that Biehn was cast in Mandalorian Season 2, but Jason Ward says he "believes he has been cast," as a "bounty hunter from the Mando's past." The Hollywood Reporter also seemingly confirmed the rumor following initial reports.

Further, Ward claims that this is what this new bounty hunter will look like, and has even dropped a sketch, which you can see in the video below.

The new bounty hunter helmet is 100 percent reminiscent of Darth Vader, but perhaps, more specifically, various non-stormtroopers we saw serving the Empire throughout the classic era. In The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi several AT-AT and AT-ST drivers had these Vader-esque helmets. In Solo: A Star Wars Story, we saw that during Han's brief time with the Empire as a "Mud Trooper," he too rocked a similar Vader-esqe helmet. So, if this new Bounty Hunter is still wearing a helmet in the same vein as AT-AT drivers, it's possible that this guy was literally ex-Imperial, and perhaps, even a former operator of Imperial ground vehicles.

Contemporary Star Wars canon hasn't really dealt with how people who worked for the Empire reintegrated into the galaxy after the Rebellion became the New Republic. It's tempting to think that everyone who loved working for the Empire was either killed, imprisoned, or in the case of The Mandalorian, working for War Lords who were trying to get the Empire back on its feet. But if the new bounty hunter in Mandalorian Season 2 is a former Imperial, it would stand to reason that a ton of people who used to fly or fight for the Empire eventually went into the private sector.

This has a lot of implications for Season 2, mostly because the backdrop of the galaxy in The Mandalorian will eventually result in the creation of the First Order about two and a half decades later. But right now, the ways in which galactic law works and how former-Imperial loyalists fit into all of that isn't very clear.

To be fair, we're basing a lot of this speculation on the conjectured design for an unconfirmed bounty hunter's helmet, which nobody — including Ward — has even seen. If Michael Biehn is playing a new bounty hunter in The Mandalorian, the final costume could end up looking totally different.

One thing is for sure, though. If Biehn is playing a new bounty hunter, that still doesn't mean Boba Fett is returning. If Boba did survive his fall into the Sarlacc Pit and somehow appears and takes his helmet off inThe Mandalorian, like he has to be played by Temuera Morrison. And if he doesn't take his helmet off, maybe Boba Fett could be played by the last person who did Boba's voice for an audiobook... Jon Hamm.

The Mandalorian season 2 hits Disney+ in October 2020.