The Mandalorian Had A Big Snoke Reference During Pivotal Chapter 12 Scene

The Mandalorian Chapter 12 has Star Wars fans buzzing – and not just because of the major error with that crew member walking into a shot. The new episode “The Siege saw Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) return to where the series began on Planet Nevarro – the place where he first rescued The Child and had his ultimate standoff against Moff Gideon. Mando signs on for a mission helping old friends Cara Dune (Gina Carano) and Grief Carga (Carl Weathers) clear the last of Gideon’s forces off the planet – but instead the stumble onto a much darker discovery – one that comes with heavy hints to being connected Supreme Leader Snoke!

This scene from The Mandalorian Chapter 12 clearly seems to use chords from Snoke’s theme in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy films – but why? Answer: because The Mandalorian is apparently filling in some much-needed Star Wars backstory.

Warning: The Mandalorian Spoilers Follow!

What Din Djarin, Dune, and Carga find at Gideon’s old base is a creepy lab, filled with Bacta tanks. Inside the tanks are creepy deformed humanoid bodies, which appear to be a series of clones. A video message from scientist Doctor Pershing (Omid Abtahi) confirms that Gideon was carrying out some twisted experiment, with Baby Yoda being the key. The Moff is trying to extract Midi-chlorian’s from The Child, in an apparent attempt to transfer its Force-sensitive powers to the clones. The purpose of this? We don’t have confirmation yet, but there are several key clues that this storyline could be filling in gaps in the storyline of the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy – namely, the origins of Supreme Leader Snoke.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker revealed that Snoke was an engineered being created by Sith loyalists to give Emperor Palpatine a living avatar to carry out his will. However, as Star Wars fans have dug into that origin story, there are still a lot of questions – like how Snoke got such powerful dark side Force abilities. Well, The Mandalorian may be answering that, and fans seem to be enjoying that plothole fill even more than they ever did Snoke.

Ever since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker failed to satisfy with its resolution to the Skywalker Saga, the franchise has been backpedaling to explain some of the more drastic turns it took. The entire Palpatine return/cloning/being Rey’s grandfather/Snoke’s puppeteer is now a convoluted knot of canon that does even feel like it makes sense when you write it all out.

Hopefully, Snoke’s origin isn’t also Baby Yoda’s doom. That would be unforgivable.

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