The Mandalorian Season 2 could set up Taika Waititi's new Star Wars movie
The director may borrow a few things from his old project for his own movie.
Taika Waititi is all over The Mandalorian. Aside from directing the Season 1 finale, the Oscar-winning writer and director also lent his voice to the reformed bounty hunter droid IG-11. Now, he's working on a Star Wars feature film of his own, and with pre-production currently ramping up, it's beginning to look like Taika's movie could overlap directly with something that happens in The Mandalorian Season 2.
British newspaper The Daily Record reports (via GamesRadar) Waititi's new Star Wars movie will be filming the Scottish highlands for three days beginning in December as part of the location scouting process. The combination of north Scotland and December means one thing: snow, and lots of it.
Snow planets are not unusual in Star Wars, with the most famous example being the treacherous planet of Hoth featured in The Empire Strikes Back. But recently, the most interesting snow planet has been Ilum, which was brought into the canon fold during the run of The Clone Wars in the episode "The Gathering," when Ahsoka Tano brings a group of younglings to the planet to hunt for Kyber crystals.
Ilum is an icy planet where Kyber crystals (the things that power lightsabers and also the Death Star) come from. In the age of the First Order, Ilum was transformed into Starkiller Base, as shown in The Force Awakens. The planet obviously has a massive amount of importance to the Star Wars universe as a whole, and Ahsoka claims in "The Gathering" that "there is no place more sacred to the Jedi."
The Jedi Temple at Ilum as seen in "The Gathering."
Most recently, rumors are swirling that the ice planet featured in the first trailer for The Mandalorian Season 2 may be Ilum itself. This would make sense, as Mando and Baby Yoda are on the hunt for Jedi, and if Baby Yoda is going to become one, he'll have to go through initiation on Ilum eventually. Or maybe Mando heads there to track down some missing Jedi...
For Taika's new movie, filming in an Ilum-like environment could mean a handful of things, but depending on when the movie takes place in the Star Wars timeline, it could mean we'll get to see some young Jedi build their own lightsaber.
The Jedi initiation arc of The Clone Wars would be a perfect fit for Waititi's playful directing style and use of young actors like he's done in Jojo Rabbit and Hunt for the Wilderpeople. A youngling-centered movie would also allow for an appearance by Huyang, a millennia-old droid programmed to assist with lightsaber manufacturing.
Huyang in 'The Clone Wars'
Huyang was voiced by Doctor Who icon David Tennant, and the role won him an Emmy award for Outstanding Performance in an Animated Program. There's no better character to bring into live-action, especially considering Taika's past experience playing a live-action droid himself.
The Inverse Analysis — The rumored inclusion of Ilum in Taika Waititi's new Star Wars movie doesn't promise much in terms of plot, but given how it's so sacred to the Jedi, it's a good sign the new film will shed more light on the ancient Jedi rituals and give fans more lore to chew over during the wait for a new flagship trilogy. Or Hoth; Hoth is also cool!
The Mandalorian Season 2 premieres on Disney+ on October 30.
