The Mandalorian - Taanab May Have Been A Solo: A Star Wars Story Nod

The latest episode of Star Wars: The Mandalorian continued the theme of Disney mining the discarded Legends continuity, unused concept art, and little-known tidbits from Lucasfilm's expansive franchise. This time it appears to be honoring the work done on Solo: A Star Wars Story, the latest spinoff film that failed to ignite the box office despite being well received by many fans. In the episode "Chapter 15: The Believer," the returning Mayfield (played by comedian Bill Burr) intervenes to help Din Djarin with a reference to the original plot of the Han Solo spinoff movie.

In the episode, Mando and Mayfield go undercover as Stormtroopers at a secret Imperial military installation to find the whereabouts of Moff Gideon's cruiser. When the Mandalorian gets close to being found out, being questioned by an Imperial officer that Mayfield recognizes, the frenemy steps in and explains to the officer that Djarin's hearing was damaged during a battle on a planet called Taanab.

If you're unfamiliar with Taanab, that's because it was meant to appear in Solo: A Star Wars Story but it never did. The film was reportedly meant to showcase Taanab in the second act, where Enfys Nest and Dryden Vos were battling over the planet's resources.

The original designs for Taanab were meant to be lush green jungles, showcasing the diversity of biomes in the Star Wars galaxy. This is probably why this planet of Morak, the location of the Imperial base Mando is infiltrating, looks somewhat similar. They didn't quite appropriate that element of the Solo pre-production work, but they did give it a nod, apparently.

While Solo: A Star Wars Story received mostly positive reviews from fans and ended on a cliffhanger, many of the elements from the plot have mostly gone untouched in recent years. Darth Maul and Dryden Vos made an appearance in Star Wars: The Clone Wars' final season that briefly referenced their roles in the galaxy's criminal underworld, and Lando Calrissian is set to receive his own prequel series on Disney+, but fans are hoping to see more from Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo or Emilia Clarke as Qi'ra.

Some fans might like to see a sequel to Solo: A Star Wars Story in the near future. But with all of the major announcements from Lucasfilm yesterday, that might not be in the cards for quite some time.

The Season 2 finale of Star Wars: The Mandalorian premieres on Disney+ next Friday, December 18th.