Back in 2011, the novelist Karen Russell made a perfect observation about why we love orphan narratives in fiction. Speaking about her 2011 novel Swamplandia!, which tells the story of a group of teens working in an alligator-wrestling theme park, Russell said: “I think it’s expedient to get those authority figures out of the way. What if they had really authoritarian overprotective parents? Nothing would happen in the book. They would all apply to college!” Baby Yoda isn’t exactly like the Baudelaire orphans insofar as he does need Mando’s protection, but the stakes are similar. Were we to discover where Baby Yoda comes from, the answer would have to twist the plot in another direction. Otherwise, the show would simply have to end. With a third season already in development, a conclusion to the Baby Yoda saga seems highly unlikely. By the same token, if some legacy character like Luke Skywalker or Ahsoka Tano appears in The Mandalorian season 2 and says, “Okay, here’s the whole story on Baby Yoda,” it again, undercuts the present-tense narrative of the show being about Mando and Baby Yoda. The ad-hoc family of two is what the series is about, so even if Mando is on a mission to replace that status quo with a different one, it seems like he’s doomed to fail because the series format just won’t allow it. Stream your Star Wars favorites right here! So, what can happen in The Mandalorian season 2? Unlike so many other big sci-fi shows, the Star Wars live-action series is more like a sitcom than a serialized epic series. Baby Yoda cannot die or change in a big way, and Mando cannot die unless it’s the finale episode. It’s no accident, then, that the first season often leaned into a bounty-of-the-week format when not addressing its main storyline. In a standalone episode, both characters are assumed to be safe. Expect to see more of that structure in season 2, with just enough Baby Yoda teases to keep you invested in the main storyline. The Mandalorian season 2 hits Disney+ on October 30.
