The Mandalorian 3: Gorian Shand will be one of the new villains of the series?
The Mandalorian 3
The awaited return of the Mando on Disney Plus has finally materialized with The Apostate, the first episode of The Mandalorian 3 in which the Mandalorian bounty hunter most loved by Star Wars fans embarks on a new adventure. Going beyond what was seen in previous seasons and in his quick but central appearance in The Book of Boba Fett, the Mando now seems destined to rediscover his Mandalorian roots, facing a dangerous mission that will not fail to bring him up against new enemies. Already in the first episode of the new season, in fact, we have the opportunity to hear the name of one of Din Djarin's future opponents in The Mandalorian 3: Gorian Shand .
The Mandalorian 3 introduces Gorian Shand in the Star Wars Canon, valuing pirate clans back into the franchise
While visiting his friend Grieff Karga (Carl Weathers), Din Djarin discovers that the thriving outpost of Navarro has a problem with a gang of pirates, who never fail to try to exercise their pressure on Karga just as he is accompanying his Mandalorian friend through the streets of Navarro. From the fight with the minion Vane, we discover that this gang makes references to the pirate king Gorian Shand. The Mandalorian 3 therefore seems to recover an essential trait of Star Wars continuity, namely the presence of space criminal gangs, which are traditionally presented as clans of pirates led by a prominent figure, a pirate king.In the Canon we got to see similar characters in the animated series The Clone Wars and Rebels, where we met the likeable rogue Hondo Ohanaka, but the presence of these characters was even more rooted in Legends, where prominent personalities like the pirate Talon Karrde, who from being a criminal initially hostile to Luke and his companions even turned out to be a valuable ally in certain circumstances.
Apparently, The Mandalorian 3 wants to re-evaluate the presence of pirates within the saga, exploiting the fall of the Empire and the difficult consolidation of the New Republic as a moment of great opportunity for the world of crime. Not a novelty, considering how previously in the series starring Mando and Grogu we have seen officers of the Republic move around the Galaxy looking for new recruits to create a police force that faces this threat, such as the Rangers (to which a serial project was linked now cancelled) or the local Sheriffs, as was Cara Dune (Gina Carano) on Navarro before the actress' dismissal for the well-known reasons.
In this dynamic, the presence of Gorian Shand in The Mandalorian 3 represents a a strong point not only to consolidate the danger of the pirate clans, but also to build a villain of thickness for the events of the Mando. For now we know that the tension between Shand and Karga is linked to what the pirate king sees as a betrayal, that is, having transformed a saloon for which a bribe was paid to Karga into a school, creating tension between the two . Although we have not seen much of Shand in The Apostate, we can still deduce that the problem does not seem to be linked to a lack of money flow, but rather to a potential setback that undermines Shand's danger, to which the criminal reacts by showing how much his men are willing to impose his will.
The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal, third from left) in Lucasfilm's THE MANDALORIAN, season three, exclusively on Disney+. ..2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved. This reveals not only that Shand has henchmen at his disposal at will, but also that he does not intend to let his authority be questioned, even going so far as to concoct tactically valid plans in order to counter his opponents, as Mando was able to experience in leaving Navarro. A clash in space that may indicate how the Mandalorian has just made a powerful enemy who could prove to be an annoying thorn in his side in the future.
