The first trailer for The Mandalorian season 3 confirmed the appearance of the best Rise of Skywalker character, proving the series can redeem him.
The first trailer for the highly anticipated The Mandalorian season 3 confirmed the appearance of the best character from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, proving that the series can redeem his limited 2019 appearance. The Mandalorian season 3 is set to premiere in February 2023, picking up from the events of The Book of Boba Fett, with the titular Din Djarin and Grogu traveling to Mandalore to restore Djarin’s Mandalorian status. While not much is known of the story besides this, the first trailer for The Mandalorian season 3 released at D23 2022 revealed the surprise appearance of one of The Rise of Skywalker’s most beloved characters.
That character is none other than Babu Frik, widely considered the best new character of The Rise of Skywalker, the small Anzellan droidsmith who assisted Rey, Finn, and Poe in unlocking C-3P0’s memories of the Sith dagger. Babu’s appearance in the trailer for The Mandalorian season 3 came as a surprise to many, with the show taking place almost 30 years before The Rise of Skywalker. One thing that Babu’s appearance can do is redeem his limited appearance in the film. While his character is often regarded as one of the bright spots of the disappointing Episode IX, Babu Frik only had a few minutes of screen time and was relegated to a deus ex machina-type role, simply being introduced to fix C-3PO. The Mandalorian, being a Star Wars TV show with longer-form storytelling, can allow for Frik to be further fleshed out than The Rise of Skywalker offered, all while showing the connection between the show and the sequels.
What Star Wars Has Revealed About Babu Frik’s Origin
Not a lot has been revealed about Babu Frik’s time before The Rise of Skywalker thus far, meaning The Mandalorian can capitalize on and flesh out the character in unseen ways. That being said, Frik’s time aiding the Spice Runners of Kajimi, including Poe Dameron and The Rise of Skywalker’s Zorii Bliss has been explored in some Star Wars content. Before the Cold War between the New Republic and the First Order, Frik often assisted the Spice Runners in their various operations. One such operation saw Frik repair a damaged droid companion of Zorii and Poe, named EV-6B6. Babu was also instrumental in aiding Poe Dameron’s escape off-world to join the New Republic, giving Poe a holographic disguise matrix so that the future pilot could successfully flee.
Other than this, not a lot is known about Frik’s life. Given The Mandalorian takes place almost 30 years before the Cold War, it will be interesting to see how Frik’s life is different under the New Republic. There is a possibility of a few references to Zorii Bliss and Poe Dameron as children, exploring his origins with the Spice Runners. Regardless, the fact remains that The Mandalorian season 3 has a lot of room to redeem Frik and give him much more content than what was seen in The Rise of Skywalker.
Babu Frik Proves Mando ISN’T Ignoring The Star Wars Sequels
Another thing that Babu Frik’s involvement in The Mandalorian proves is that the show is not ignoring the Star Wars sequels. After the very divisive fan reaction to Disney’s sequel trilogy, many found The Mandalorian as a return to what they loved about Star Wars after the lackluster sequel reception. Because of this, many wanted The Mandalorian to completely ignore the stories of the sequels, with some even going as far as hoping the show would retcon Episodes VII, VIII, and IX entirely. However, with theories that the Imperial presence in The Mandalorian and their hunt for Grogu are setting up Snoke’s inception through cloning, and now Babu Frik’s inclusion, it is all the more clear that The Mandalorian is definitely not ignoring the sequels and embracing them as canon, whether fans like it or not.