Talking to Deadline after his Emmy nomination, Giancarlo Esposito who plays the villiainous Moff Gideon dropped some hints about the role his character and the darksaber play in The Mandalorian's upcoming second season. Nominated for his work in Better Call Saul, Esposito said “You’ll see more of the darksaber, you’ll get the explanation of this ancient weapon to the modern world, a collapsed world."
Although the darksaber was only briefly seen at the end of The Mandalorian's first season when Moff Gideon uses it to free himself from a TIE Fighter wreckage, it looks like it'll have a far bigger role to play in the second season. “[The darksaber] is a key to Moff Gideon’s past, which possibly has a lot to do with where he comes from and his desire to build a planet and bring it back together," added Esposito.
According to Star Wars lore, the darksaber was forged by the first Mandalorian to join the Jedi Order, Tarre Vizsla. After his death, it was locked away in the Jedi Temple during the fall of the Old Republic before being stolen by Mandalorians of House Visla who ruled over Mandalore for years after. Darth Maul eventually won the darksaber in a duel that featured in the 'Shades of Reason' episode of the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Its appearance in The Mandalorian brings up many questions, the biggest of which is how in ended up in Moff Gideon's possession. Esposito also hinted there's more to Moff Gideon than we currently know: "He is a supreme being in a sense. He knows it, but not everyone in the universe knows it.”
There's no release date for the second season of The Mandalorian just yet. Filming was completed before the COVID-19 pandemic, though, so it'll likely be made available this fall.
The Mandalorian season 1 is available to stream on Disney+
Source: Radio Times