WARNING: Spoilers for The Mandalorian below.
With The Mandalorian Season 3 premiere now streaming on Disney+, fans caught up with Mando (Pedro Pascal) as he prepares to trek the bombed out planet of Mandalore to redeem himself in the eyes of The Armorer after admitting he violated their clan’s creed by removing his helmet. However, Mando knows he’s going to need the help of a droid, and the only one he trusts is now a statue on Nevarro. That droid? IG-11.
As the story unfolds in the premiere, Mando is hell-bent on restoring the droid, which leads to an encounter with the fan-favorite character Babu Frik. But why is Mando so determined to repair this one specific droid? Well, it all goes back to Season 1.
In the very first episode of The Mandalorian, Mando and several other bounty hunters are tasked with finding a target who turns out to be the show’s golden goose, Baby Yoda. One of those bounty hunters is the assassin droid IG-11 whose voiced by Taika Waititi. After briefly teaming up, Mando dispatches the droid when he tries to eliminate Baby Yoda. Turns out, Mando is terrified of droids after his family was killed by the mechanical Separatist forces, so he was totally fine with blasting IG-11 in the head and never seeing him again. However, the paths would cross later in the season.
After reconnecting with the reclusive Kuiil (Nick Nolte), Mando learns that his Ugnaught friend has rebuilt IG-11 and reprogrammed him to help on his farm. Reluctantly, Mando allows Kuill to bring IG-11 on a mission to free Navarro from The Client (Werner Herzog) who’s taken the town hostage in an effort to lure Mando into a trap. During the mission, IG-11 proves to be a valuable asset and trusted friend as he not only helps a wounded Mando in battle but saves Baby Yoda from an Imperial assault led by Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito). The droid further cements his loyalty by self-destructing to help Mando and his friends escape after being surrounded by stormtroopers in the explosive season finale.
Knowing that history, it makes perfect sense that if Mando is going to trust a droid with his life while traversing Mandalore, he wants it to be IG-11.
New episodes of The Mandalorian stream Wednesday on Disney+.
