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The season three finale of The Mandalorian contained several bombshell moments courtesy of big bad Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito), whose antics included destroying the Darksaber, debuting his new super suit, and chewing out Mando for destroying his collection of clones enhanced with Force-using abilities—before seemingly succumbing to a fiery inferno. “Seemingly” is key because we never see proof he’s died… which naturally means Mandalorian viewers, including Esposito himself, soon started cooking up ways he could return.
At the recent Los Angeles Comic Con, Esposito was asked about returning to Star Wars—specifically The Mandalorian season four, which has yet to be announced, though you have to assume any speculation about Moff Gideon’s return could also include The Mandalorian & Grogu feature film, coming May 2026. According to People, Esposito was enthusiastic in his response, saying he would “love to” return to the role.
“I don’t know much about what’s going on. I know they’re making a film. I don’t know if they’re going to return to the show or not, but anything is open. And I certainly left the best opening ever for Moff Gideon to come back. I love it when you see a character go over the edge, but you don’t quite know what happens,” he said.
Esposito even had an idea of how Moff Gideon could pop back up. “I remember in our last season when I came to set, I had a different haircut because I figured I was in prison for a while and had no mustache. And then before I started shooting Jon Favreau came down and he kind of looked at me and he scratched his head,” Esposito said. “He went, ‘No mustache?’ And I went, ‘No! No mustache.’ And so it leaves it open with all of those clones that there’s a possibility that Moff Gideon is still hiding out somewhere, waiting to come back and take over. I can almost guarantee it.”
At the same Los Angeles Comic Con panel, Esposito paid tribute to a pair of Star Wars legends, including one very recently departed, saying they helped shape his own villainous performance. “I went back and I watched Peter Cushing‘s performance—his Grand Moff performance was very interesting to me,” he said. “I went back and looked at James Earl Jones because that was just inspiration to me, how he held himself, how he carried himself underneath that grand and very graceful costume. It took a long time for me to even start to think that I was kind of a modern-day Darth Vader.”
Would you like to see Moff Gideon return? Let us know below (and if so, how you think he’ll manage to pull it off).
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