One thing about Star Wars is that you can never trust when a b—h is actually dead. Remember when Palpatine somehow returned? What we saw in the finale of The Mandalorian was Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) fighting Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff), and succumbing to the flames of a crashed freighter by Axe Woves. He was winning the fight and even destroyed the Darksaber but he was no match for actual fire consuming him.
The reality of the situation is simple: You cannot trust someone who works for the Empire to ever actually die. We know that the Sith love to fake a death. But Moff Gideon has said outright that he is not Force-sensitive, yet what really struck me as suspect in the season 3 finale was the fact that we have seen the clones that Moff Gideon created all lined up in their tanks. We watched Din Djarin blow them up.
And yet I still don’t believe that Bo-Katan and Din actually defeated the Moff Gideon that they had been fighting in the past. Think about it: That was far too simple a way to kill off the villain who had terrorized them since season 1 when Din Djarin took the bounty on Grogu. More than that, there are just too many factors at play for me to believe right now, without any confirmation, that that was the Moff Gideon from season 1 and beyond. Not when we saw that he had successfully created clones of himself, even if they were not yet ready.
If there was one clone…
Think, if you will, about Moff Gideon as a leader. He knew that the new clones would be Force-sensitive, but who’s to say that he had didn’t have some other clones created to go out and do his bidding around the galaxy who weren’t Force-sensitive? To keep himself out of danger? It would make that fight even worse because the clones were fighting back that strongly. And it would mean that Moff Gideon could still show up again in The Mandalorian.
Now, I don’t think that’s the last of him in general because unless you see a body that is totally fried with no one able to bring it back, there’s a chance that character can return to Star Wars. I’m saying this from experience with this franchise. They love to bring characters back who should be dead. But establishing that Moff Gideon himself had clones? And then killing him off? It’s just too easy to connect the dots and realize that the happiness that Bo-Katan and Din Djarin have convinced themselves of feels a little too premature.
I don’t think a return of Moff Gideon is going to be something that happens at the start of season 4, but unless we open up on his fried body with someone saying, “Wow, strange that not one clone survived and now Moff Gideon is just dead forever,” I’m going to constantly be thinking about him being somewhere in the galaxy, waiting to torment Din Djarin and Sir Din Grogu some more.
(featured image: Lucasfilm)
