The Mandalorian’s Season 3 finale was packed with a lot of intriguing moments and left us with plenty of questions. Including the death of the Imperial villain Moff Gideon, who has been a major character in the Star Wars series.
Disney and Lucasfilm have finally released Chapter 24 of The Mandalorian, closing out what has been a relatively controversial season of the hit show. There seems to be plenty of mixed opinions on the overall story arc in Season 3, but like always, it has had some great character moments and action sequences.
One of the biggest moments in this season’s finale was the closing battle with Din Djarin, Grogu, and Bo-Katan Kryze all stacking up against Moff Gideon and his new generation of Dark Trooper battle armor, which made him almost unkillable, particularly in hand-to-hand combat.
Did Moff Gideon die in Season 3 finale?
Although Gideon’s new armor was strong enough to destroy the Darksaber, he did eventually start to fade when the Mandalorians started working together. The combined power of Grogu’s force abilities as well as Din Djarin and Bo-Katan’s combat skills was enough to defeat him.
The final blow came in the form of Axe Woves piloting the Mandalorian’s fleet cruiser directly into the heart of his secret imperial base, which caused such an explosion that it incinerated him immediately, leaving room for him to have survived this time.
But even that has been challenged, now that we know he was building an army of his own clones. While none of the force-sensitive clones had been born, it does not rule out the possibility of him having regular clones to act on his behalf.
Twitter user clonehumor shared a theory that many fans have started speculating over, the possibility that the Moff Gideon that was killed by the blast was actually one of his earlier clones, without the force sensitivity trait. They pointed out that the imperial leader we saw in Season 3 did not have the mustache he had in the other seasons. While this could simply be Giancarlo Esposito’s personal style choice, it is worth considering the possibility of
Did Moff Gideon or his clones survive?
So, is this the last time we will see Moff Gideon in the Star Wars universe? While it is unlikely from this point, there is still a chance that this clone theory happens, although we might not see him return until Dave Filoni’s movie, which is expected to center around the “Mandoverse” characters. There are ways that it could be explained why he might’ve faked his own death.
He could want the Star Wars galaxy and Imperial leaders like Thrawn, in particular, to think that he is dead. So that he can now continue these cloning projects in the shadows, much like he was doing in the Mandalore base, before the Mandalorians realized that the planet was not truly cursed after the Great Purge.
However, as Giancarlo Esposito’s terrifying character has already had near-death experiences in all three of the series’ season finales, it is probably time for writer and showrunner Jon Favreau to have Din Djarin and, the newly anointed, Din Grogu, move on to new threats and leave Moff Gideon behind.