The Mandalorian Season 3 Just Introduced Our New Favorite Star Wars Character
This article contains spoilers for the season premiere of "The Mandalorian" season 3.
The world of "Star Wars" is full of great characters that are instantly recognizable, with some even reaching icon status. Characters like Darth Vader, Darth Maul, and Boba Fett have simple yet memorable designs that can be boiled down to recognizable silhouettes. Even when their personalities and characterization aren't all there (like with Maul and Boba), their look tells you everything you need to know about them.
Then there are all the different and unique alien creatures in the franchise, like the Jawas, the Gungans, the Twi'leks, or the Mon Calamari. These feel like nothing else on film and TV, and they make the "Star Wars" universe feel bigger and more lived-in because it's more than just humans and human-like creatures that inhabit this sci-fi galaxy.
This is why it's so hilariously cool that, when "The Mandalorian" introduced the latest addition to the greatest "Star Wars" characters ever, it really is just space Swamp Thing.
Meet Gorian Shard
"The Mandalorian" season 3 starts with Din Djarin and Grogu on a mission to Mandalore to prove it is not poisoned, with our favorite Mandalorian apparently leaving bounty hunting behind to become the "Star Wars" equivalent of explorer Roald Amundsen (but hopefully without the same tragic fate).
Before he does that, he stops at Nevarro, where he helps his old pal Greef Karga kill a band of pirates. Except the two make the grave mistake of letting one of the pirates go, who of course goes on to report to his boss and swear revenge. Who is his boss? None other than the King of Pirates, the owner of the One Piece, Gol D. Roger! Wait, that's not right, it's just some random dude named Gorian Shard. While that name is nowhere near as good as Monkey D. Luffy, what makes Shard not just interesting but immediately our favorite new character is the fact that he is made entirely out of moss and vines, and looks like he came straight out of the set of DC's "Swamp Thing."
And yes, he specifically looks like "Swamp Thing." If the writers just wanted a green guy covered in moss, they could have easily made him a homage to Marvel's Man-Thing. How hard would it have been to just grab the same suit and use the digital assets for Man-Thing that Michael Giacchino used in "Werewolf by Night?" But no, this Pirate King looks just like what comic book artists Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson envisioned back in the '70s, complete with the little moss nose thing, but with the addition of a cool bushy swamp beard.
This is the coolest new character "Star Wars" has introduced in years, the kind of character whose toy would feed the imagination of millions of kids around the world.
It's time for a full-blown pirate series
The thing about incredibly popular toys like the original Boba Fett action figure is that, eventually, they inspire their own TV shows. That's right, it's time for "Star Wars" to embrace what it's been lacking all along: a pirate show. Sure, we've seen plenty of criminal characters in the galaxy far, far away in shows like "The Book of Boba Fett" and "Andor." Yet, we have not seen a "Star Wars" show about pirates, where characters like Hondo Ohnaka would have a chance to thrive, where sword fights can happen on the regular without the need for a Jedi, and where rather than heists and bounties, we get mutinies, pillaging, and hoarding.
Just imagine that show, and imagine how exciting it would be to get the definitive origin story of how a very green pirate became king of all pirates. It could have lots of cool twists and turns, like what happens when Gorian Shard gets stranded on Tatooine without anything to water himself, or a flashback to life on his home planet, where he works as an Ent-like shepherd for the local vegetation. What happens when Shard travels to a fiery locale like Mustafar? These are important questions we need answers to, Lucasfilm!
With Gorian Shard, Disney has the chance to rectify a grave mistake (not making a show about pirates) and explore some cool new places in the "Star Wars" universe. It can give us a genre it hasn't covered in "Star Wars" before, with a protagonist that's as intimidating as Vader, but as approachable and funny-looking as a muppet. He is space Swamp Thing, and he is your new best friend.