The Mandalorian Chapter 11: Rebels, Clone Wars, and Major Star Wars Ties Explained

The Mandalorian arrived on Trask in Chapter 11 and we saw a major familiar face from the Star Wars universe — along with other important details. The latest episode, titled “The Heiress,” has dropped and with it came some brand-new characters and exciting developments with huge connections to the larger Star Wars universe especially the popular animated shows Rebels and Clone Wars. Spoilers follow as we cover all of those Easter eggs, recap what happened and the huge ties to other Star Wars content, along with the awesome closing tease of what’s coming up.

Mando’s journey to Trask to deliver Frog Lady and her eggs ends in a crash landing because the Razor Crest ship is in rough shape after last week’s giant spider encounter. A bunch of Mon Calamari aliens are at the dock, looking familiar because of the famous, “IT’S A TRAP!” line by Admiral Ackbar. This might make extra sens, because Mando is about to find himself… in a trap.

At the dock, we see AT-AT’s can be used for more than just being tripped up in battle, as Trask puts the leftover Empire machines to work pulling ships out of the water.

The adorable reunion between Frog Lady and Frog Man happens and they are ready to hatch some younglings, if you know what I mean. They just need to keep those eggs away from Baby Yoda.

Mando ends up on a ship with a bunch of aliens that look like they could be related to Davey Jones from the Pirates movies. These are called “Quarren” in Star Wars lore. They live up to Davey’s villainous legacy, tossing Baby Yoda to a mamacore on their ship and trying to take all of Mando’s beskar, only for Clan Kryze to show up and save the day. When this trio takes their helmets off, they reveal they are from a different faction of Mandalorians with beliefs separate from out titular Mandalorian.

Bo-Katan introduces herself, played by Katie Sackhoff who voiced the character in animation, explaining that our Mando follows “the ancient ways,” and her group is essentially the new age of Mandalorians. They are the product of a very complicated history. If Bo-Katan sounds familiar, that’s because she was an awesome character in Clone Wars and Rebels. A character who was once the leader of Mandalorians, making an effort to galvanize her followers to take pride in their skills as warriors. Bo-Katan previously led a group called Death Watch, who essentially wanted to remain violent, and she has had encounters with characters you know, like Obi-Wan and Darth Maul, aligning herself with the latter for a little too long at one point, but ultimately standing against Maul and the Empire. In the end, she’s after the Dark Saber because it is a symbolic figure of power and strength for Mandalorians, and she’s all about power and strength and wants to gain that back for Mandalore from what’s left of the Empire.

The trio hails from the Nite Owls, including a couple of new characters to the Star Wars world. One is played by WWE superstar Sasha Banks who is called Koska Reeves here, along with Simon Kassianides’ Axe Woves. You might know Kassianides from Agents of SHIELD.

Standing before the Nite Owls, Bo-Katan reveals to Mando and us that he is a Child of the Watch, which means the Death Watch took him in and showed them their way. The Death Watch is a different faction of Mandalorians than the Nite Owls, but they have similar goals of restoring Mandalorians as warriors instead of Pacificists. Pacifism was an idea for Mandalorians by Bo-Katan’s sister Satine, and Satine ended up dead.

Together with our Mando, this high flying Squad takes down a ship which is going to deliver weapons to Moff Gideon’s evil faction which wants to keep the Empire’s legacy alive. They do crack a joke about Stormtroopers being able to hit the side of a bantha, referencing the comically bad aim of the galactic soldiers, while also naming those adorable woolly-mammoth looking beasts that we saw get eaten by a Krayt Dragon just a couple weeks ago. Ultimately, the Smoke Monster from LOST (an Empire commander played by Titus Welliver) is ordered by Moff Gideon to sink the ship so the Mandalorians don’t get anything from but fails. Ultimately, he kills himself before giving up the Dark Saber’s location.

Mando isn’t down to hunt down the Dark Saber because he’s on a mission to deliver the child, so, finally, we hear it, “There you will find Ahsoka Tano.” We knew Ahsoka was coming with Rosario Dawson playing the part but now it’s finally real with Bo-Katan instructing Mando to her location! Ahsoka was a padawan trained by Anakin Skywalker, and one that evolved into such an awesome character who has held her own with even Darth Vader in duels.

On the way out, Mando’s money wasn’t worth much to the Mon Calamari mechanic, apparently, because his Razor Crest ship is as jerry rigged as you can get it, and he’s off to find a Jedi on the forest planet of Corvus, which is a planet that had not previously been mentioned in Star Wars lore. New stuff!

What Easter eggs and references did you catch in The Mandalorian Chapter 11? Share yours and your review in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram!