Mandalorian Season 3 trailer could confirm a major theory Season 2 ignored

Amid the copious announcements at D23’s Lucasfilm presentation, one expectation fueled fan excitement throughout: the promise of a trailer for The Mandalorian Season 3. We’re coming up on two years since Season 2 and, while a first look at the upcoming season was released at Star Wars Celebration, it was an attendee-exclusive. The brand-new trailer, however, was released wide, hitting the internet on Saturday afternoon. Did you catch a background character in a key role? If not, here’s what you missed.

In the trailer for The Mandalorian Season 3, we see many returning faces from Mando’s journeys — Peli Motto, Greef Karga, Bo-Katan Kryze, etc — but only two returning faces from the Empire remnant side of the cast: Dr. Pershing, the cloning scientist who sought to extract some key substance from Grogu, and the nameless Comms Officer, who has been beside Moff Gideon from the beginning but has yet to get any characterization.

Katy O’Brian’s Comms Officer is a curious character. She’s had a handful of lines over the past two seasons, but nothing more substantial than informing Moff Gideon of a key development. Still, she’s been a stalwart of the series, leading some fans to believe there’s more to her character than meets the eye; there was even a fan theory her character could be Sabine Wren in disguise. (With the casting of Natasha Liu Bordizzo in Ahsoka, this can’t be true, but it sure seemed like a fun idea at the time.)

Is the Comms Officer’s inclusion in The Mandalorian Season 3 trailer a hint that she will have more of a storyline? She featured twice in the Star Wars Celebration-only trailer: we got a shot of her looking over her shoulder at a control panel, as well as a shot of her with Dr. Pershing. This seems to suggest that, not only will she have a bigger role, she could even be a spy for Din Djarin and his allies, turning against Pershing and Moff Gideon.

There’s actually a lot going on for the Comms Officer, especially for a character who doesn’t yet have a name. Narratively, she’s laid low enough that fans (not to mention the Empire) won’t suspect her. And from a production perspective, Katy O’Brian’s martial arts skills give the character action capability. If the trailer is anything to go by, a majority of Season 3 will revolve around Mando’s journey to find forgiveness in the Living Waters of Mandalore. This means there’s a need for a sudden shift in the dynamics of the Mandalorian/Empire relationship — a turncoat would be a perfect way to achieve that.

We may not know if the Comms Officer is going to step up in the next season, but she’s definitely someone to watch, an ace up the showrunners’ sleeve that is sure to be played eventually.

The Mandalorian Season 3 premieres on Disney+ in 2023.