One piece of Mandalorian‘s cliffhanger is following Gideon’s tie-fighter crash, he cuts a hole for himself out of his damaged spaceship with the famed darksaber, a weapon from deep-dive Star Wars mythology that drove fans nuts.
“You’ll see more of the darksaber, you’ll get the explanation of this ancient weapon to the modern world, a collapsed world,” Esposito said today. “Where did this saber come from and how was it revived? It’s a key in our second season, which will be back sooner than later.”
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“(The saber) is a key to Moff Gideon’s past, which possibly has a lot to do with where he comes from and his desire to build a planet and bring it back together,” added Esposito.
The darksaber was originally made by a Mandalorian and Jedi known as Tarre Vizsla. Following Tarre’s death, the saber was stolen by Mandalorians during a tumultuous time with the Republic. Long story short, the saber fell into the hands of Darth Maul (the villain from Phantom Menace) who won it after a duel with another Mandalorian who had possession of it, Pre Vizsla. Years later, during the animated series Star Wars Rebels, the saber was obtained by Sabine Wren, another Mandalorian, and Kanan Jarrus. Sabine handed it over to a fellow Mandalorian, Bo-Katan Kryze, and the big question for fans now has been, how the heck did Esposito’s Gideon get possession of it?
In regard to his inspiration for playing Gideon, Esposito gives full props to the late Peter Cushing, who played Grand Moff Tarkin in the original 1977 Star Wars movie. “You could always read his mind through his eyes. I took a look at the imagery of this supreme chancellor, which really helped me. He is a supreme being in a sense. He knows it, but not everyone in the universe knows it.”
Esposito teases, “What we don’t know is how extra special he is yet.”