Star Wars: The Mandalorian Brought Back Something From the Prequels That Fans Hate

The new season of Star Wars: The Mandalorian has been praised by fans and critics alike, but the latest episode might have opened the door for a return of one of the most controversial additions from the prequel trilogy. While many fan-favorite characters, factions, and vehicles have already showed up in the new Disney+ series, the inclusion of Baby Yoda ensured we'd continue to explore the Force and Jedi, but now we're diving deep into midi-chlorians. The latest episode also dives deep into the Empire's efforts to revive their cloning programs. Executive producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni made it clear in this week's episode that they're willing to include even the most hated elements of previous Star Wars films, as the infamous midi-chlorians finally made a comeback.

WARNING: This article contains spoilers for "Chapter 12" of The Mandalorian! Continue reading at your own risk...

Remember midi-chlorians? In Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon Jinn tests young Anakin Skywalker's blood after they first meet on Tatooine, in order to get a count of his midi-chlorians. Qui-Gon describes midi-chlorians as microscopic life forms that live inside the cells of every living being, and a higher midi-chlorian count meant a stronger connection to the Force. Of course, Anakin's count was "over 20,000," more than even Master Yoda.

This device and explanation quickly drew criticism from all corners of Star Wars fandom, because it made the connection to the Force seem way less interesting or spiritual. It's also just a silly concept to begin with. Regardless, despite the hate for midi-chlorians has developed over the years, The Mandalorian found a way to include it.

During Friday's new episode, "The Siege," Mando reunites with Greef Carga and Cara Dune to take out an old Imperial base on Navarro. They quickly realize, however, that the structure isn't being used as a base, but rather a scientific facility. A hologram from Dr. Pershing, the scientist who worked with The Client in Season 1, revealed that he was working with blood samples taken from The Child, aka Baby Yoda. As the hologram played, the characters noticed tanks filled with humanoid bodies all around the room.

As expected, Dr. Pershing is connected to the process of cloning, and he's using the blood of Baby Yoda to enhance his creations, likely giving them additional powers. When explaining that he only had a small sample of Baby Yoda's blood, Pershing said he didn't think they would "find a donor with a higher M-count." He's talking, of course, about the high volume of midi-chlorians in Baby Yoda's DNA.

Moff Gideon is building an army of enhanced soldiers, and he's using Dr. Pershing's cloning technology to do it. This means that midi-chlorians have suddenly made a comeback in the world of Star Wars, and they're about to be more relevant than ever.

What did you think of the new episode of The Mandalorian? Let us know in the comments!