Star Wars: 10 Best Prequel References In The Mandalorian

From Luke Skywalker to Boba Fett to Mos Eisley Spaceport, The Mandalorian hasn’t shied away from overtly referencing the original Star Wars trilogy. But unlike Disney’s other ventures into a galaxy far, far away, Jon Favreau’s acclaimed streaming series has been just as enthusiastic about embracing the polarizing prequels with Easter eggs and callbacks.

From Cobb Vanth’s speeder made out of a podracer engine to the return of Ben Burtt’s most glorious sound effect, these are The Mandalorian’s most memorable references to the prequel trilogy.

10 Peli Motto’s Pit Droids

First seen working on podracers in The Phantom Menace, pit droids are lovably dopey droids that will accidentally torch themselves with the engine they’re working on.

When Mando arrives in Mos Eisley Spaceport, he meets Peli Motto, who becomes his regular Tatooine contact. Motto has a bunch of pit droids working for her, still as accident-prone as they were in the movies.

9 Super Battle Droid

Din Djarin’s backstory is inextricably tied to the prequel era because he grew up during the Clone Wars. His family was killed during a battle and he was saved by the Mandalorians, who took him under their wing as a foundling.

In the flashback filling in Din’s tragic childhood, the Mandalorians are shown saving him in the nick of time from the cannon of a Super Battle Droid, which is much more intimidating when there isn’t a Jedi around to slice and dice it.

8 Cobb Vanth’s Podracer

The Mandalorian’s second-season premiere, “Chapter 9: The Marshal,” introduced Timothy Olyphant as a live-action incarnation of Cobb Vanth, working as a marshal overseeing various crime-ridden Tatooine towns.

Throughout the episode, in addition to wearing Boba Fett’s armor, Vanth rides around on a speeder he made out of a souped-up podracer engine.

7 High Ground

When the Mandalorian and Toro Calican are staking out Fennec’s location, Mando admits defeat by saying, “She’s got the high ground,” a clear reference to Obi-Wan’s declaration of victory over Anakin in Revenge of the Sith.

Unsurprisingly, the episode that this Easter egg is from, “Chapter 5: The Gunslinger,” was written and directed by Dave Filoni, George Lucas’ apprentice and the king of all prequel memers.

6 Cloners

Throughout The Mandalorian, the Imperial Remnants’ quest to clone Grogu has been an important plot point. Cloning engineer Dr. Pershing has been hired to do the job, either as a precursor to resurrecting Palpatine or to create an army of cloned Force users.

The show could eventually explain the mystery of Kamino’s cloning operation, which was dropped from the prequel trilogy to keep the story focused on Anakin’s downfall.

5 Order 66

In “Chapter 13: The Jedi,” Ahsoka gave audiences a crash course in Grogu’s backstory: “He was raised at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Many masters trained him over the years. At the end of the Clone Wars, when the Empire rose to power, he was hidden. Someone took him from the Temple. Then, his memory becomes… dark.”

After the preceding 12 episodes had built up an intriguing air of mystique around Grogu’s past, it was surprising to have so much of his backstory explained so quickly – especially since it ties so closely to the events of the prequel trilogy.

4 A Simple Man

When Obi-Wan speaks to Jango Fett on Kamino in Attack of the Clones, the bounty hunter utters the iconic line, “I’m just a simple man, trying to make his way in the universe,” in earshot of his young son Boba.

In The Mandalorian episode “Chapter 14: The Tragedy,” Boba tells Mando a tweaked version of his quote: “I’m a simple man making his way through the galaxy, like my father before me.”

3 M-Count

A lot of Star Wars fans were up in arms when The Phantom Menace used “midi-chlorians” to scientifically explain the Force, feeling that putting an exact number on a Jedi’s Force sensitivity took away the spirituality surrounding the Force.

Like it or not, Lucas included it in the canon. The Mandalorian has reinforced the idea of midi-chlorians with references to Grogu’s “M-count.”

2 Yousa

Following the vitriolic fan response to Jar Jar Binks, the character was sidelined in the rest of the prequel trilogy and his fellow Gungans were removed from the story entirely. Ever since it’s been tough to find Star Wars media that will even acknowledge the existence of Gungans.

So, it was nice to see The Mandalorian reference the Gungans with a throwaway line in “Chapter 6: The Prisoner.” When Bill Burr’s Mayfeld is trying to guess why Mando won’t take off his helmet, he jokes, “Maybe he’s a Gungan. Is that why yousa don’t wanna show your face?”

1 Seismic Charge

Ben Burtt has created some truly iconic sound effects for the Star Wars saga, from the hum of a lightsaber to Darth Vader’s breathing to the voice of R2-D2, but his most glorious sound effect is the “seismic charge” first used in Attack of the Clones.

The Mandalorian brought back this sound effect in season 2 when Boba Fett used one of his dad’s seismic charges to decimate a couple of TIE fighters on his tail.

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Ben Sherlock
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Ben Sherlock is a writer, comedian, independent filmmaker, and Burt Reynolds enthusiast. He writes lists for Screen Rant and features and reviews for Game Rant. He’s currently in pre-production on his first feature (and has been for a while, because filmmaking is expensive). You can catch him performing standup at odd pubs around the UK that will give him stage time. Previously, he wrote for Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop.

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