Star Wars sequel trilogy link established as The Mandalorian & Grogu casts villain

Whether you like it or not, recent news of one cast member’s addition to the upcoming Disney film The Mandalorian & Grogu proves that the events of Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker are here to stay.

As revealed by Deadline’s Rosy Cordero and Anthony D'Alessandro, Jonny Coyne will be reprising his role from The Mandalorian season 3 in the show’s follow-up movie The Mandalorian & Grogu.

If you’re not familiar with that name, don’t worry. That’s kind of understandable, considering how little screen time his character has actually had so far.

Coyne wasn’t in The Mandalorian for long (as he only appeared in one episode) but the reappearance of his character does imply that a certain topic from Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker will be revisited.

Jonny Coyne played the character (if you can call him that) “Imperial Warlord” in episode seven of The Mandalorian’s third season, during a scene where he discussed one of Episode IX’s crucial plot points with Giancarlo Esposito’s character Moff Gideon.

Star Wars fans can currently enjoy Skeleton Crew, and we sat down with the show's cast.

Said discussion revolved around “Project Necromancer.” They didn’t outright say it during the scene, but it’s pretty obvious that the council was discussing the plan to revive Emperor Palpatine.

You might remember that Palpatine “somehow returned” during the events of Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker.

His revival was basically not explained in any way and also happened offscreen, which was one of the many reasons that film ended up upsetting basically every Star Wars fan in existence.

Considering Jonny Coyne is reprising his role in The Mandalorian & Grogu, it does imply that Palpatine’s revival is going to be further explored in the film… seven years after the release of Episode IX.

Better late than never, I guess? At least the timeline does match up, sort of, as season three of The Mandalorian was set in 11 ABY and Rey was supposedly born in 15 ABY.

I wonder if this will in some way tie into the next Star Wars sequel trilogy Disney announced too? We’ll find out for sure once The Mandalorian & Grogu drops in 2026.