WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for The Mandalorian, now streaming on Disney+.
The Mandalorian on Disney+ has secured its continuing viewership in a few ways. The first is excellent storytelling, with a compelling central mystery and complex protagonist. Secondly, the series introduced us to the meme-machine that is Baby Yoda.
If those weren’t strong enough reasons to tune in every week, The Mandalorian has also found small ways of connecting itself to the larger Star Wars canon. "Chapter 4," for instance, features the live action debut of a creature that has previously only been seen in animation called a Loth-cat.
After escaping a shoot-out with the Bounty Hunters' Guild, with the help of some Mandalorian brethren, by the end of Episode 3, our hero has become a wanted man on the run and is in desperate need of a place to hide. A remote planet named Sorgan appears to provide just the seclusion required.
Upon landing on the forest planet and making his way to a nearby village -- with his green little guy following close behind -- he enters an eating/drinking establishment, and this is where the Loth-cat makes its cameo. As the Mandalorian passes, unaware of the (at first glance) cute and cuddly feline-esque creature watching the patrons from below a stool, Baby Yoda gets a little too close. The Loth-cat lashes out with a snarl and snaps its sharp fangs at the poor 50-year-old child.
For viewers who have mainly been fed on a diet of the live-action Star Wars films, the incident is likely nothing more than a brief, surprising encounter. To fans of all things Star Wars however, this serves as something much more interesting.
First seen in the fifth episode of the animated series Star Wars Rebels, Loth-cats are cranky animals native to the planet Lothal. They have popped up and been mentioned several more times during the life of the show, making them both a recognizable and welcome addition to the Star Wars landscape, but one that, until now, had been confined to a single television series.
Much of the ancillary Star Wars material, such as TV shows, comics, novels, games and even two standalone feature films (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Solo: A Star Wars Story) have served as opportunities to explore the other corners of the Star Wars galaxy and detail events only mentioned in the main films. This can also be said of The Mandalorian, taking place five years after Return of the Jedi and the fall of the Empire, with a key difference.
As the first live action Star Wars spinoff series, it would have been easy for the show to exist in its own bubble, forsaking all other material. Instead, it optioned to pull from canon to enrich its storytelling.
Dave Filoni is the Lucasfilm wunderkind and creative powerhouse involved in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Rebels, Resistance and now serves as a writer, director and executive producer on The Mandalorian, alongside series creator John Favreau. His inclusion may have something to do with the show's decision to connect Star Wars' live action and animated TV worlds. After all, this wasn't just a passing reference to something from Star Wars, this was something that only existed in a show he was an instrumental part of.
When Rebels premiered in October 2014, Lucasfilm had been purchased by Disney two years earlier and The Clone Wars had been off the air roughly seven months. There was no guarantee that the new series would connect to the previous one, despite Filoni's involvement. However, in the first season finale, it is revealed that the rebel agent Fulcrum is, in fact, the former padawan of Anakin Skywalker -- Ahsoka Tano. Her inclusion in the series confirmed that even though The Clone Wars began prior to the Lucasfilm acquisition, it was still canon.
By including the Loth-cat in The Mandalorian, John Favreau, Dave Filoni and the rest of the team have rewarded fans of Rebels and proven that all of the modern Star Wars canon is valid; it all matters.
Created by Jon Favreau, The Mandalorian stars Pedro Pascal, Gina Carano, Carl Weathers, Giancarlo Esposito, Emily Swallow, Omid Abtahi, Werner Herzog and Nick Nolte. A new episode arrives each Friday.