The Mandalorian & Grogu Creator Drops a Thrilling Hint About the Empire’s New Leader

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As part of Empire‘s cover story about The Mandalorian and Grogu, details about the film’s villains are shared. The Shadow Council, which first appeared in The Mandalorian Season 3, is specifically mentioned as a main threat. The group includes a “mysterious warlord” portrayed by Jonny Coyne, reprising his role from the TV show. The Mandalorian and Grogu director Jon Favreau teased that fans will “like his character name,” but stopped short of revealing more than that.

Who Could Jonny Coyne’s Imperial Warlord Be?

Image Courtesy of Lucasfilm

If Favreau is going out of his way to tease the identity of Coyne’s Imperial warlord, the implication is that the character name is being saved as a major reveal for the final film. If that’s the case, it’s likely the character name has some overarching connection to the larger Star Wars franchise. One possibility is that Coyne’s character is taking the name of someone from Legends. In the Disney era, Lucasfilm has canonized several characters from the old Legends publications, most notably Grand Admiral Thrawn. The studio seems to be building up to a major showdown against Thrawn and his forces, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Favreau and Co. put their spin on an Imperial warlord from Legends, such as Warlord Zsinj.

The Shadow Council and the Imperial remnants are laying the foundation for the First Order, so another possibility is that Coyne is portraying the father of someone who served with the First Order during the events of the sequel trilogy. Star Wars has highlighted a generational connection within the villains before; Brendol Hux, father of sequel trilogy antagonist Armitage Hux, is a member of the Shadow Council. The issue here is that outside of Hux, there weren’t many First Order officers to receive meaningful characterization in the sequels. The reveal of familial ties in The Mandalorian and Grogu may not land with the desired intent.

It’s always possible that Coyne’s character name could be more of a real-world Easter egg that references a filmmaker with connections to the Star Wars franchise (Favreau, Dave Filoni, even George Lucas). But right now, ties to Legends or the First Order are arguably the two likeliest options. Of those, the former might make the most sense. It would be a fun moment for longtime fans familiar with the Legends publications, though there’s a risk the reveal could go over the heads of the uninitiated. Favreau and Co. need to be careful with the way the character’s name is handled.

The hint that people will get a kick out of the name of Coyne’s warlord might raise concerns about Star Wars’ reliance on connections to the past. The argument there is that the galaxy is a very large place, and making a new character the father of someone audiences are familiar with would only make it feel smaller. Some people also feel that The Mandalorian has leaned a little too much on fan service to the larger Star Wars franchise after the first season we generally self-contained. Those points are valid, but any new installment in a long-running IP is going to have callbacks and references to earlier entries. As long as the reveal isn’t too distracting, Coyne’s character name should be a cool detail.

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