The Mandalorian's Moff Gideon has quickly established himself as one of the most interesting villains in the entire Star Wars franchise. Played by Breaking Bad star Giancarlo Esposito, there's clearly a lot more to him than just what we see on the surface, and Gideon clearly holds a lot of power within what remains of the Empire.
Is he working for Grand Admiral Thrawn? Does he need The Child so he can clone Emperor Palpatine? What the heck is his endgame, for that matter? Those are questions that have yet to be answered, though Esposito has at least shed some light on the latter.
"Moff Gideon would really like to be a Mandalorian, and there’s a reason for it," the actor tells Entertainment Weekly. "That’s his psychological, real problem."
"He really wants to be a Mandalorian because the strength and power of the Mandalorians is not necessarily that they are individuals. It’s that they are part of a group that have an ideal and a morality."
"And that to me is really powerful in our story," Esposito continues, "so all of these elements of the story really intrigue me and allow me to be really thankful and grateful to be in this universe."
These comments actually line up with what we recently heard about the Moff donning a suit of Mandalorian armour in the show's upcoming third season. Knowing he wants to be like the Mandalorians lends a perverse new twist to his mission, especially when he helped destroy Mandalore and wielded the Darksaber for a time.
When we last saw Gideon, he was seemingly being taken into the New Republic's custody, so how he frees himself to embark on his fantasy of becoming a Mandalorian remains to be seen.
What we do know is that The Mandalorian season 3 is set to premiere on Disney+ next February.