Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Season 3 of The Mandalorian through Episode 6.
After the “Guns for Hire” episode ofThe Mandalorian, a strong case can be made for aStar Warsprocedural show with the Mandalorians at the center of the action. They are a warrior culture that has evolved through many thousands of years and spread throughout the universe. With many civil wars and outside influences affecting their culture, they’ve fractured in their belief of what a true Mandalorian is. This has all come to the forefront as The Armorer (Emily Swallow) has tasked Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) to find the outcast Mandalorians and reunite them all on one world. This type of journey plays perfectly into the weekly episodic formula that many of the most popular police procedural TV shows follow as they find different individuals or small factions they want to bring to their new home. Many procedurals have developed with both episodic stories mixed with serialized emotional arcs for their main characters, and this provides a lot of opportunities for fans ofStar Warslore to see how this story relates to the bigger universe.
The Procedural Formula Fits in Perfectly with Star Wars
Police procedurals have been on television for over 70 years. Originally, the formula was specifically episodic, the professional lives of the main characters are all we see, and each episode wraps up the case by the end credits, like withCHiPs. Others have dove into the personal lives of those working in law enforcement, making the shows both episodic with the investigations and serialized with character development, likeBlue Bloods. It’s one of the most successful forms of television, as evidenced by the amount of these shows still in production. With theStar Warsfranchise branching into television series paired with the journey Bo-Katan is about to embark on, now is the perfect time forDisneyto develop a series like this.
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The success of these shows would lie with how well the franchise organizes the layers of events to find a balance between stand-alone episode plots and serialized story arcs. The first season ofThe Mandalorianis a prime example of this balance, where every episode had a challenge that was faced successfully by the end while the story arc of the father-son relationship between Grogu and Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) developed. This balance was struck nicely in “Guns for Hire” as well, following the episodic plot of the investigation while developing the serialized storyline of Bo-Katan becoming the Mandalorians’ true leader. This same balance could be easily achieved following Bo-Katan’s journey forward, where she finds outcast Mandalorians and convinces them to reunite by the end of every episode, and her story arc as the leader of all Mandalorians can further develop throughout the season. Her journey across the universe also leaves room for other popularStar Warscharacters to support or antagonize her, and would help build up theStar Warsfilm thatDave Filonihas planned to be theculmination ofThe Mandalorianspin-offs and animated series.
The Mandalorians Could Return to Their Bounty Hunter Roots
As the Mandalorians were scattered throughout the galaxy, many took the same path as Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) and became Bounty Hunters. At the time the “Guns for Hire” episode ofThe Mandalorianended, there are hundreds of outcast Mandalorians scattered throughout the universe, many of whom have no idea of the events that have taken place since the show began. Each episode of aStar Warsprocedural could focus on Bo-Katan hunting each of them down through investigations and battles, doing whatever it takes to reunite her people. The diversity of each of these factions would make their reactions to Bo-Katan’s proposal unpredictable, offering an array of challenges she could face throughout the series.
In “Guns for Hire”, Bo-Katan is joined by Din Djarin on the investigation through Plazir. The dynamic between these two characters was serious at times, but provided comedic relief as well that gave the story a great pace. The chemistry between these characters was very reminiscent of early pairs of investigators in police procedurals, like Joe Friday (Jack Webb) and Bill Gannon (Harry Morgan) onDragnet. They were all business, wanting nothing more than to do their job the best way they know how. There are other Mandalorian characters that could travel with Bo-Katan that would give different episodes a totally new dynamic to each episode and give their character arcs some depths, too. We recently saw in theteaser trailer forAhsokathat Sabine Wren (Natasha Lui Bordizzo) will be joining the live-action Star Wars universe. She would be ecstatic to learn that Bo-Katan had truly won ownership of the Dark Saber and became the rightful ruler of the Mandalorians, and her independent spirit would provide a lighthearted bright spot to the series. The Armorer has seen her share of action inThe Mandalorian, but it’s always been with her clan behind her. Seeing her venture out into the galaxy with Bo-Katan would prove to be an enlightening journey for everyone involved, as she is an authority on Mandalorian history, but would learn a lot from venturing out away from her clan. There’s always potential for new and amazing Mandalorian characters to be created, too, as there have been Mandalorian outcasts exploring the universe for generations.
A Star Wars Series with Staying Power
While most inhabitants of the Star Wars universe find themselves on either the Republic’s side or the Empire’s side. The Mandalorians have found themselves on both sides in different parts of history, but more often than not they occupy an independent stance without any allegiance to either side. This stance makes it possible for Mandalorians to continue working on reuniting their people regardless of what else is happening in the widerStar Warsuniverse. This means that any Mandalorian procedural series could go on as long as anyCSIorLaw & Ordershow has. New Mandalorians they find along the way can join the show as regulars. Even if they decide at any point that all Mandalorians have been reunited and Bo-Katan’s original journey is over, there is an entire universe to investigate crimes, protect the rights of the oppressed, or do some good old-fashioned bounty hunting. As long as there’s aStar Warsfranchise, there’s always a place for a good Mandalorian story.
