The Mando ship never had a chance. Inside The Mandalorian In season 2, the Razor Crest was ripped apart by giant spiders, fell into the ocean, and finally was blown to pieces by Moff Gideon’s light cruiser. We never learned much about the ship, which Din Djarin once described as “pre-Empire surplus”, but an eagle-eyed Star Wars fan may have noticed the unlikely origin of the Razor Crest – or at least its inspiration.
Tik Tok user Anthony Venuti recently uploaded a video arguing that Razor Crest actually appears in an episode of the animated series The Clone Wars. The episode in question, Season 2 Episode 17, is titled “Bounty Hunters”. (Curiosity: it also begins with a dedication to Akira Kurosawa, the Japanese director whose work inspired George Lucas to do Star Wars first of all.)
“Bounty Hunters” follows Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano as they end up on a distant planet that is being terrorized by space pirates. They soon encounter a group of bounty hunters (none of whom are Mandalorians) who have been hired to protect a local village. After a brief misunderstanding, the two groups end up working together in what looks like a rather nonessential episode of The Clone Wars.
However, the important moment comes at the very end, when one of the bounty hunters, Sugi, offers to give the Jedi a ride on his ship. When the episode ends, we see your ship. And it seems very like the Razor Crest.
But this is really the ship of The Mandalorian? The timeline has been aligned since Mando said his ship was pre-Empire and that’s when Clone Wars takes place. The fact that this ship was owned by a different bounty hunter before breaking up with Din Djarin is also a good dose of narrative symmetry. However, we are not convinced.
As Star Wars fans in the comments on Venuti’s video point out, the two ships are not entirely identical. It is likely that they came from the same manufacturer, but they are probably not the same model, let alone the same piece of trash. For comparison, here is an image of the Razor Crest from the same angle, courtesy of Hasbro and Lucasfilm.
As you can see, there are some minor differences. The windshield layout does not match, and the weapons in front of the Razor Crest are not included on Sugi’s ship.
Of course, it is possible that some changes have been made throughout the year. In just two seasons The Mandalorian, we saw the Razor Crest suffer a lot of damage. Perhaps Mando’s ship is actually the same one that Sugi used to give Obi-Wan, Anakin and Ahsoka a lift during the Clone Wars – but with some important alternations.
Then again, if that were the case, Ahsoka would not have mentioned anything when he saw the ship during The Mandalorian? (To be fair, she was somewhat distracted by Grogu.)
At the very least, this clear visual connection seems like a deliberate nod to the Star Wars past The Mandalorian. And considering that the show’s co-creator, Dave Filoni, also worked with George Lucas on The Clone Wars, we doubt it is just a coincidence.
You can watch The Mandalorian and The Clone Wars at Disney +.