The Mandalorian Trailer Shows A Lone Gunslinger At The Galaxy's Edge

It's time to journey to the edge of the galaxy far, far away. 

Disney and Lucasfilm finally unveiled the first trailer for the (first-ever!) live-action Star Wars series The Mandalorian during the Disney+ presentation at D23 Expo 2019 on Friday, August 23. 

The footage opens with a striking image: severed heads of Stormtroopers displayed on spikes (which calls to mind Joffrey Baratheon's trophy heads from Game of Thrones). From there, the Mandalorian trailer shows a ship flying across a lush green landscape, a gloved hand making a swap with the bounty hunter guild leader Greef Carga (Carl Weathers), that same ship soaring over a sea of sand and cracked earth, and the Mandalorian himself suiting up. We then see a glimpse of the former Rebel Shock Trooper Cara Dune (Gina Carano), a shot of an interesting-looking creature, a tentacled woman winking, a mother holding her child in a body of water, and a line of black Stormtroopers, apparently led by Giancarlo Esposito's character, aiming their weapons at a target — the Mandalorian, played by Pedro Pascal. 

What follows is a sizzle reel of clips filled with gunshots, lasers, fist-fights, and general chaos that comes to a head when Werner Herzog's character delivers a line that sums up the series as a whole: "Bounty hunting is a complicated profession, don't you agree?" 

This first trailer for The Mandalorian, set "after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order," hints that the show will dig into the darker elements of the Star Wars franchise — something that very few projects have thus far. Series creator Jon Favreau, a longtime Star Wars fan, has also teased that The Mandalorian will explore "the darker, freakier side of Star Wars, the Mad Max aspect of Star Wars," while evoking the "aesthetics" of the original trilogy, with particular focus on A New Hope. The vibe of this first-look footage certainly falls in line with those statements, so fans should be excited to see how The Mandalorian unravels into even stranger, more violent territory as new episodes roll out. 

It'll also be interesting to witness what each of the series' episodic directors brings to the table. The Mandalorian has on board to direct one episode each Dave Filoni (Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels), Deborah Chow (Jessica Jones and Iron Fist), Rick Famuyiwa (Dope), Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok), and Bryce Dallas Howard (Black Mirror and Jurassic World). These creatives all have their own unique vision, which they've undoubtedly imbued into The Mandalorian; the only question here is whether the fruits of their labor will be  sour or sweet. 

Thankfully, the wait for The Mandalorian will be a relatively short one: the series is scheduled premiere on Disney+ at launch on November 12.