The Easter egg hunt continues in Baby Yoda continue their sci-fi buddy movie adventure through the Outer Rim. Already, Mando has reclaimed Boba Fett's iconic armor, defeated a legendary dragon, met Bo-Katan Kryze, and discovered the location of a mysterious Jedi named Ahsoka Tano. Djarin hopes Ahsoka can lead the way to Baby Yoda's home, but before that, the Razor Crest is in desperate need of a mechanic, and where better to rest than on Nevarro?
A key setting in The Mandalorian season 1, Nevarro plays host to the returning Greef Karga and Cara Dune, played by Carl Weathers (who also did an impressive job of directing this episode) and Gina Carano, respectively. While the Razor Crest gets some much needed TLC, Karga and Dune decide to make the most of Mando's free time, recruiting him to help take down the planet's last remaining Imperial base. After dropping Baby Yoda off for his first day of school, the trio are ed by the Mythrol from The Mandalorian's series premiere and head out. Alas, this is no ordinary Imperial base.
Aside from reuniting with old friends, annoying the Empire and forcing Baby Yoda to perform dangerous engineering tasks, Mando also dug up some fascinating Star Wars Easter eggs in this episode, reaching across the entire media spectrum. Here are all the Star Wars references in The Mandalorian season 2's "The Siege."
The Aqualish Raiding Mandalorian HQ
Both seasons of The Mandalorian make use of assorted Star Wars aliens to add an exotic quality to the galaxy, and the Disney+ series has previously turned its spotlight onto some of George Lucas' lesser-known species. "The Siege" begins with the former Mandalorian hideout on Nevarro being raided by a team of Aqualish, before the gang are interrupted by the town's Marshal (another one), Cara Dune. The Aqualish are one of the oldest Star Wars races, memorably appearing in A New Hope's Mos Eisley Cantina scene, where Ponda Baba took a dislike to Luke Skywalker. His arm was promptly removed by Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Mimbanese
When Din Djarin arrives on Nevarro, Greef Karga kindly agrees to have the Razor Crest attended to, and orders two nearby workers to get busy. One of these assistants - a red alien with bright turquoise eyes - looks decidedly suspect, and is later revealed to be spying for Moff Gideon. Although the comparison isn't exact, this alien looks very similar to Ochi, the Sith devotee sent to retrieve Rey as a child, but the Nevarro mechanic is actually Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Marketplace Easter Eggs
In The Mandalorian season 2's premiere, the boxing match sequence featured an alien with a wide green and red helmet - a reference to Constable Zuvio. This character was announced to appear in The Force Awakens, but was ultimately cut from the theatrical edit. Another Zuvio helmet can be spotted during the marketplace scene of "The Siege," while Mando, Greef and Cara are taking Baby Yoda to class. Either The Mandalorian has started reusing props, or Zuvio's headgear is getting super-popular ahead of the sequel trilogy era. Also in the marketplace scene, an alien the same species as Silvasu Fi is lurking around the stalls. Fi's species is unspecified in Star Wars lore, but like the Mimbanese, the race was introduced in Solo.
IG-11 Statue
The best Easter egg in "The Siege" also comes during the stroll through Nevarro. Just before Mando and his pals enter the local school, a statue of IG-11 can be seen in the background, arm aloft. This touching addition to Nevarro's town square acts as a callback to The Mandalorian's season 1 finale, where a reprogrammed IG-11 helped free the planet from Imperial control. The droid spared Baby Yoda the wrath of Jason Sudeikis, healed Din Djarin, aided the group's escape from Moff Gideon and, finally, sacrificed himself to take out a Stormtrooper unit. Were it not for IG-11, Nevarro would still be under Imperial rule, Moff Gideon would possess Baby Yoda, and Din Djarin would've been killed alongside Cara Dune and Greef Karga. A commemorative statue is, frankly, the least they could do.
Naming Trade Routes
Baby Yoda's first lesson in school is a quick overview of trade routes from a C-3PO-style protocol droid, and the scene drops several nods to familiar Star Wars locales. The teacher mentions the "Corellian Run" which originates from wider media set around The Force Awakens, and an eager student offers "Hydian Way" as an answer, referencing Star Wars: The Clone Wars. By this point, viewers will be entirely focused on Baby Yoda using the Force on a packet of blue macarons, but the droid also name-checks Chandrila, the home of the New Republic, and the Akkadese Maelstrom, which famously contains the Kessel Run that, lest we forget, Han Solo made in twelve parsecs (if you round down).
Rey's Hairstyle
The Mandalorian's classroom scene is full of children who are largely inconsequential to the Star Wars universe, but one of the students wears a homage to Daisy Ridley's Rey on her head. In the Star Wars sequel trilogy, Rey's trademark hairstyle is a series of three buns running in a straight line down the back of her head. As the students of Nevarro clamor excitedly over their new, green classmate, one girl is seen with the exact same hairdo. The kid's hair is a neat Rey Easter egg, but also alludes to fashion trends that might run throughout the Star Wars galaxy. It's a shame Princess Leia's double Danish buns never caught on.
Han's Carbonite Blindness
In a wonderful piece of Star Wars continuity, the latest offering from The Mandalorian season 2 harks back to Han Solo's carbonite imprisonment in The Empire Strikes Back. Han is famously frozen solid during the climax of the 1980 Star Wars movie and shipped out to Jabba the Hutt. Princess Leia eventually frees him, but when Han emerges, he suffers blindness as a side-effect, lasting until after the battle on Jabba's barge. In "The Siege," the blue Mythrol from The Mandalorian season 1 complains that he still can't see out of one eye after Mando gave him the carbonite treatment during their first meeting. While Han recovered fairly quickly, perhaps certain people or certain species are more likely to suffer long-term damage from the carbonite freezing process.
Luke's Speeder
The returning Mythrol character makes himself useful by chauffeuring Din Djarin, Cara Dune and Greef Karga to Nevarro's secret Imperial lab facility. Though he'd later regret it, the driver uses his own speeder, which is a souped-up version of Luke Skywalker's ride back on Tatooine. In the original 1977 Star Wars movie, a young Mark Hamill tears across the sands of Tatooine in a beaten, orange X-34, and this vehicle quickly became iconic as one of the first futuristic modes of transport seen in the Star Wars universe. The Mythrol's speeder must be an upgraded version of the same model with a blue paint job. The most obvious difference is the cluster of larger engines packed onto the rear of the new speeder, in comparison to Luke's smaller trio of turbines.
The Trexler Marauder
After infiltrating the Imperial stronghold, the Mythrol claps eyes on a Trexler Marauder sitting idly underneath a dust sheet, and suggests jacking the vehicle to make a little extra cash. While this request is flatly turned down, Cara Dune winds up commandeering the Marauder in their eventual escape. As a bonus meta Easter egg, it's amusing how the Mythol exclaims "you know how much we can get for this?" when Star Wars vehicle toys in the real world sell for big bucks.
Code Cylinder
Advancing further into the base, Cara Dune chokes out a hapless Imperial officer and Greef Karga relieves him of a small, silver, pen-like object, which is later used to unlock the necessary doors. The gadget is a code cylinder - a glorified flash drive/security routinely carried by Imperials on bases and ships. Grand Moff Tarkin is among the many named characters to use a code cylinder, and the design traces back to 1977's debut Star Wars movie.
