Star Wars Prequels Droids Spotted in New Mandalorian Trailer

The Star Wars Universe is about to get a major expansion into live-action TV via The Mandalorian, the Disney+ series that has been wrapped in a thick veil of secrecy. The new trailer for The Mandalorian is now out, and even though it doesn’t officially reveal an major story or character details, Eagle-eyed Star Wars fans have managed to spot one detail in the trailer footage that could be one of the first major reveals about The Mandalorian and its connection to the larger Star Wars universe – specifically, the tumultuous events of The Clone Wars!

First, check out this Mandalorian footage featuring a squad of B2 Super Battle Droids from the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy:

The moment appears at around 1:05 in the Mandalorian trailer, in what is most likely a possible flashback to when the titular Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) was a young boy. Based on the voiceover from Werner Herzog’s character, The Mandalorian’s homeworld was ravaged at some point in the past – and this scene with the Super Battle Droids seems to be heavy evidence that the Mandalorian’s story begins in the era of the Clones Wars, which were explored in The Clone Wars animated series that serves as the first canonized Star Wars TV spinoff.

The connection between Clone Wars and The Mandalorian has now got Star Wars fans (once again) theorizing like crazy about who “The Mandalorian” actually is. We’ve already been promised that The Mandalorian‘s premiere episode opens with a massive Star Wars universe Spoiler, and a major flashback action sequence would definitely fit that bill.

The most obvious connection The Mandalorian could make to Clone Wars would be the “Seige of Mandalore” arc that saw one of the final conflicts of the Clone Wars waged over the outer rim world of Mandalore. Mandalore had remained neutral for most of the Clone Wars, but was eventually conquered by Darth Maul and his brother Savage Opress, who installed a puppet government through the Madalorian separatist group Death Watch and the puppet prime minister, Almec. However, when Darth Sidious found out what Maul was building on Mandalore, he swooped in and but a swift, decisive, stop to it. Mandalore never got a moment of peace, however, as Palpatine’s “Order 66” dropped before the Jedi and Clone Soldier heroes could liberate the planet. Mandalore would then become a dark training ground for The Empire throughout the Original Trilogy era (see: Star Wars Rebels). The story of if/how Mandalore came out of that dark era has never been told – until now, perhaps?

The Mandalorian premieres on November 12th on Disney+. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters on December 20th.