Star Wars Adds Mandalorians and Sith Witches

Just because Tom Cruise and snowy lightsaber duels in Episode VII just isn’t enough, we’ve gotten some more crazy fuel to throw on the ever-burning Star Wars fire.

The always-on-the-move Latino Review has just yesterday posted a scandalous report about just what the so-called “Jedi Hunters” in the upcoming sequel truly are (the Latinos have, in keeping with other sites, disputed the veracity of the baddies being Jedi Hunters, calling them “mercenaries” instead) – and the two-part answer probably won’t come as a surprise to most long-time Star Wars fans.

Part I: Mandalorians

The group of mercenaries that will be “antagonizing our Jedi heroes” that Latino Review has been hearing about for the past few months is, they’ve said, none other than Mandalorian warriors.

Live Feed

Along Main Street

The Mandalorians have long lived in SW mythology, ever since Boba Fett first appeared in his captivating Mandalorian armor in The Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978. Many of the various novels, comic books, and even videogames that constituted the original incarnation of the Expanded Universe were devoted to filling in the background on the ambiguous name that George Lucas had invented, and when it came time for Lucas to weigh in on the canonicity of such developments in the prequel trilogy, he ended up sidestepping the issue completely: the only tidbit regarding either Boba or the mysterious race that we are given is the little revelation that Boba is the cloned offspring of original bounty-hunter superstar Jango Fett – as are, incidentally, all of the Imperial stormtroopers.

(Many fans had initially believed that the Clone Wars were fought not between Jedi/clone troopers and battle droids, but between Jedi and the Mandalorians. Where exactly they got this notion from is entirely unknown.)

But now that all of the earlier EU has been kicked to the curbside and Disney is ready to oversee a reboot, the sky is wide-open, starting with Star Wars: Rebels’s brand-new character of Sabine Wren, who is a Mandalorian living – and fighting – just five years before the original trilogy kicks off. Whether the new animated series will be used to properly introduce the modern interpretation of the Mandalorian warriors so that Episode VII can hit the ground running is entirely unknown.

Part II: Sith Witch(es)

When originally designing Darth Maul for Episode I: The Phantom Menace, concept artist Iain McCaig ended up sketching a design that was quickly dubbed the Sith Witch. Lucas ultimately opted to go in a different direction with the character, but he was so intrigued with the concept that, when Episode II: Attack of the Clones called for a new Sith apprentice, he flirted with the idea of utilizing McCaig’s design.

More from Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

• How many Oscars has Star Wars won?
• Why was the New Republic fleet decommissioned?
• The 5 best things in the Disney era of Star Wars
• Actors who almost played Kylo Ren in Star Wars
• Looking back at 10 years of Star Wars: The films

Eager to fill its myriad episodes with new baddies for the Jedi Knights to clash against, the producers of Star Wars: The Clone Warts ended up employing a whole race of Sith Witches (hailing from Lord Maul’s homeworld of Dathomir, of course), officially calling them Nightsisters. (They also ultimately resurrected Maul himself, just for good measure [and ratings].)

And now it seems like Episode VII will be the next to pick up the Witch baton, although Latino Review is quick to point out that it isn’t certain whether they will be an extension of the Clone Wars characters or a brand-new iteration, since J.J. Abrams essentially has carte blanche to slap together a new canon for the Star Wars canon at will.

The still-untitled – and enemy-less – Star Wars: Episode VII hits theaters on December 18, 2015. It stars returning cast members Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniels, and Kenny Baker and newcomers John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, Max von Sydow, Adam Driver, and Andy Serkis.