New Mandalorian Game Can Fix A Major Gap In The Star Wars Timeline

A new Star Wars game about a Mandalorian bounty hunter is reportedly in the works, and this could be the opportunity for the franchise to address a big problem with the current canon timeline. Star Wars has obviously built up some complicated lore over the years, and even after Disney sidelined the older Expanded Universe material to be Legends, the franchise still has its share of inconsistencies. Some of these have been around for a long time, while others have emerged more recently under Disney’s stewardship of the brand.

Respawn Entertainment is rumored to be developing a new Star Wars Mandalorian game, which will take place somewhere around the time of the Original Trilogy during the Empire’s stranglehold on the galaxy. Respawn is no stranger to developing Star Wars titles, with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor cementing a strong legacy in the franchise. This tracks with an official announcement of a Respawn Star Wars FPS in the works, although the company hasn’t revealed any details about the project beyond the fact that Peter Hirschmann, a LucasArts veteran, will be in charge.

The Mandalorian Game Can Explain A Star Wars Mystery

Mandalorians have been a major highlight of Star Wars television material, from a big focus in the 2008 The Clone Wars series to a starring role in The Mandalorian, but they haven’t always been central to the material. The original Star Wars trilogy lacked any presence from Mandalorians at all, introducing the armor only through the mercenary Boba Fett, who isn’t from the planet Mandalore himself. The concept of Mandalorians has a long history, with a vague mention even appearing in the novelization of The Empire Strikes Back, but the spotlight simply wasn’t there at the start.

The Mandalorian finally clarified a big piece of Mandalorian history by establishing that the Purge of Mandalore took place prior to the events of the show, a campaign in which the Empire eliminated most Mandalorians and destroyed much of Mandalore. For the first couple of seasons, however, the exact timing of the Purge of Mandalore remained unclear. Season 3 got into more specifics, establishing that the Purge of Mandalore was part of Operation: Cinder, a larger bombardment campaign after the Emperor’s death that followed the events of Return of the Jedi.

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Although this fits overall with the history of individual characters like Sabine Wren and context from other shows like Star Wars Rebels, it renders the Purge of Mandalore useless as an explanation for the lack of established Mandalorian presence in the Galactic Civil War of the Original Trilogy. Star Wars is a huge universe, and it’s not that surprising that some stones haven’t yet been overturned, but it’s still been a conspicuous gap given the heavy presence of Mandalorians in the late days of the Republic. The upcoming Mandalorian video game, however, could finally offer a window into this context.

The Current Mandalorian Timeline In Star Wars

There’s obviously enough Star Wars material out there to give some context for the intervening years, even if it isn’t enough to get a clear picture of everything going on with the Mandalorians. Star Wars Rebels established some events in the couple of years directly preceding the Battle of Yavin in A New Hope, with the characters of Sabine Wren and Bo-Katan leading an organized resistance against the Empire on Mandalore. This climaxed in a battle that led to Mandalore’s liberation from the grip of the Empire.

In between the liberation of Mandalore and the Purge, however, about five years passed without much official coverage of major Mandalorian activities in Star Wars lore. This is the period that the upcoming game should presumably fall in, giving it the perfect opportunity to answer lingering questions that haven’t yet fit into the setting of any Mandalorian-focused Star Wars media. Although it doesn’t seem like war kept waging directly on the Mandalorian front, it’s unlikely that the Empire and Mandalorians completely ignored each other during this period, and Respawn’s game can examine what the latter faction was getting up to.

A New Star Wars Game Could Connect To Other EA Titles

Operation: Cinder made its first appearance in the comic series Star Wars: Shattered Empire, but it received a more extensive examination a couple of years later in the single-player campaign of Star Wars Battlefront 2. Like the reported Mandalorian game, Battlefront 2 was published by EA, so it would make sense for there to be some potential connections between the games. The Mandalorian game is unlikely to cover Operation Cinder directly, but it could cover some threads that help lead to that disastrous conclusion of events.

Similarly, the exploration of a missing element in the Galactic Civil War could tie in with the story of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Survivor, which take place a bit earlier but follow a similar narrative approach. The presumed third Star Wars Jedi title in the works also has a chance of aligning in the timeline. It’s not necessary for the Mandalorian game to connect directly to other titles — and it might actually be better if it doesn’t, considering how self-referential the world of Star Wars has become — but the setting and concept definitely lead to some intriguing possibilities.

It might be some time before details regarding the story of the Mandalorian game become clear, including whether it will feature familiar Mandalorian characters or all-new ones. Regardless, it should provide something for Star Wars die-hards interested in these missing pieces of lore to look forward to, as well as the possibility of general fun for even casual fans. Star Wars hasn’t yet addressed some of its biggest Mandalorian questions, but it might not be that long now until the answers finally become clear.