So far, The Mandalorian has used its exploration of uncharted corners of the Star Wars universe to flesh out lesser-known pieces of lore from a galaxy far, far away. In “Chapter 2: The Child,” Mando uses the disintegration gun that Vader warned Boba Fett not to use in The Empire Strikes Back. “Chapter 9: The Marshal” gave us an in-depth look at the Tusken Raiders’ culture. And, of course, the Darksaber has been a major MacGuffin in the show’s ongoing storylines.
Going into its third season, The Mandalorian should introduce slugthrowers. In the Star Wars universe, slugthrowers are firearms that shoot metal bullets known as “slugs” as opposed to blasters whose fire can easily be deflected by a lightsaber. The Mandalorians used slugthrowers in the Mandalorian-Jedi War because, while blaster fire is target practice for a lightsaber user, if a lightsaber hits a metal bullet, it chops it up into molten shrapnel that explodes into the Jedi’s face.
Slugthrowers have appeared in live-action Star Wars media in the past, but all the shootouts have involved blasters. The Cycler rifles used by Tusken Raiders are technically slugthrowers, but they’ve only been used to shoot podracers. The Sandpeople don’t usually find themselves in close-quarters combat with a lightsaber user. Plus, they only tend to use their Cycler rifles for long-range attacks. In short-range attacks, like when they ambush Luke in the original movie, they tend to use blunt instruments.
As it stands, the Mandalorian’s beskar armor can protect him from blaster fire. Whenever Stormtroopers are shooting at him, he can walk straight into the crossfire and emerge without a scratch, because their blasts simply bounce right off the steel. Slugs still wouldn’t be able to penetrate his beskar armor – not even a lightsaber blade can do that – but they might be more debilitating than a mere light show. Getting hit with a barrage of slugs would certainly slow Mando down, even if it wouldn’t kill him.
Following the explosive events of “Chapter 16: The Tragedy,” The Mandalorian’s third season will seemingly revolve around conflicts with the Imperial Remnants, Bo-Katan’s quest to reclaim Mandalore, and the complications that will arise from Mando’s possession of the Darksaber. With Grogu training under Luke and Ahsoka hunting down Grand Admiral Thrawn, there are a couple of Jedi that Mando can count on. If Bo-Katan wages war against Mando with the full force of the Children of the Watch, they should arm themselves with slugthrowers to give them an advantage in the fight.
Disney’s recent Investor Day event brought the tantalizing announcement of a handful of Mandalorian spin-offs – Ahsoka, Rangers of the New Republic, and The Book of Boba Fett – that will all tie into the same timeline as the flagship series, building toward a “climactic story event” that will hopefully wrap everything up in a neat bow. While the specifics are still unclear and Star Wars fans will have to be patient, The Mandalorian does seem to be leading toward a showdown with Thrawn that will determine the fate of Mandalore. Introducing slugthrowers into the mix might help to avoid repetitive action when all these series inevitably culminate in a large-scale battle.
While it seems unlikely that Ahsoka would choose to defend Mando against Bo-Katan, or that Luke would get involved at all, that’s not the only way to introduce slugthrower-on-lightsaber combat in The Mandalorian. It’s also possible that the Imperial Remnants have their own powerful young Force user affiliated with the Sith. Vader’s apprentice Starkiller could be brought back into the canon or a new character could be introduced who was being primed by the Emperor to take over in case the Rebellion succeeded. In this case, Mando could arm himself with a slugthrower to stand a fighting chance against them.
The show could even feature a couple of flashbacks to the Mandalorian-Jedi War in the vein of the flashbacks to Din Djarin’s backstory in the Clone Wars. There are all kinds of ways to introduce slugthrowers into The Mandalorian. In the hands of the team behind Boba Fett’s glorious return to action and Luke Skywalker’s sparkly slaughter of the Dark Troopers, slugthrowers could make for some visually stunning set pieces.
In its first couple of seasons, The Mandalorian has gotten plenty of mileage out of blaster-on-blaster combat. Previous Star Wars media has also gotten plenty of mileage out of blasters. To keep the franchise’s gunplay from falling into a familiar formula, the producers are going to have to shake things up, and a good way to do that might be to throw some flying pieces of metal into the flashing lights of blaster shootouts. Obi-Wan said that blasters are “so uncivilized,” but slugthrowers are even more uncivilized, and that’s perfect for the lawless, revisionist western-style world of The Mandalorian.