‘The Mandalorian’: People Can’t Stand Seeing Tatooine … Again
Few places in the Star Wars universe hold a softer spot in the hearts of fans than Tatooine. While not the first thing that we see in the Galaxy far away, it is where a young farm boy named Luke Skywalker first got the call to start a revolution.
From its desert planes to iconic cantina, Tatooine has always been a symbol of the rural Galaxy. In the new season of The Mandalorian, however, fans got to see a different side of the planet.
What is Tatooine?
According to the official Star Wars website, Tatooine is a “harsh desert world orbiting twin suns in the galaxy’s Outer Rim.” (Per StarWars.com) Those twin suns serve as the backdrop to several iconic moments in the Star Wars canon.
However, aside from the stunning imagery, the planet also serves as a grounded world in Star Wars, where a lot of the tech, shine, and futurism of the franchise has not yet landed.
The planet has, thus far, appeared on-screen in six Star Wars. It is where Luke Skywalker’s caretakers dropped him off so that he could live a life away from the dangers that beheld his lineage.
It’s also where he met an old hermit named Ben Kenobi that he quickly learned was something more. It’s not only one of the first places that the franchise goes, but, as of The Rise of Skywalker, the place where the story culminates, as well.
Not every person in Star Wars is a Jedi or a warrior. Some are normal beings who have to make do for what they have. At its core, the Star Wars saga is an elaborate rags-to-riches story about how someone doesn’t need to be wealthy and successful in making a difference.
Sometimes, there is something deeper that drives them to greatness.
The Tatooine of ‘The Mandalorian’
Season 2′ jaunt into Tatooine is not the series’ first venture to the desert wasteland. In the first season, fans were given another glimpse at the planet as the titular character brought Baby Yoda around and tried to protect him. However, the Tatooine storyline was ultimately a small part of the season. Now, Tatooine is serving a far more significant role.
The perfect setting for the western-inspired setting of the series, Tatooine has, thus far, been the primary home of the second season. With the series possibly bringing back a beloved but notoriously underutilized character in Boba Fett, a desert wasteland filled with crime and people doing what they need to stay alive is the ideal setting.
While fans have lauded the series for its unique take on the beloved franchise, some see the prolonged stay at the planet where it all started as the same type of fan service that turns them off to the more recent movies.
‘The Mandalorian’ fans chime in
Many fans have seen the return to Tatooine as an underwhelming ploy to get excitement in a series that has proven that going different still works inside the Galaxy far away. Reddit user u/Flock_of_Porgs kicked it off with a simple anecdote.
“Was not excited to see Tatooine . . . again.”
However, while the user had some issues, it was not a universally shared idea. U/Rudy1661 saw the return to Tatooine as a refreshing look at how the other events may have indirectly affected the people of the desert planet.
“It’s certainly possible, a poor place like Tatooine practically runs on second-hand stuff. But a more believable theory would be that once Anakin won the podrace, people began copying the design and it became extremely popular on the planet.”
Whatever the case may be, makers of The Mandalorian might need to think about how they can appease the fans with something new while also harkening back to prior places. If they don’t, the fans might turn on them as they have for the franchise’s past attempts at fan service.
