What The Ending Of 'The Mandalorian' Episode 1 Means For The Rest Of The Season

Spoilers for The Mandalorian to follow. After months and months of anticipation, Disney+ is finally here, and with it, The Mandalorian. The first-ever live-action Star Wars series certainly lived up to the hype in its first episode, cramming more action into its pilot than probably any show in recent memory. The episode was full of Star Wars Easter eggs and did an excellent job of capturing the feel of the Original Trilogy, while also teasing ways in which it will expand the mythos of the franchise. And there was no bigger tease than the shocking reveal during The Mandalorian episode 1 ending.

In the episode, the nameless Mandalorian protagonist — who we can now say for sure is not Boba Fett — takes on a mysterious new bounty from an even more mysterious client played by Werner Herzog. The client, who has a personal Storm Trooper army and seems to have connections to the recently-defeated Empire, sends the Mandalorian off without much information: He pretty much tells him that his unnamed target is 50 years old and says that should be enough information. The Mandalorian comes upon the compound where his target is said to be, and he discovers that he's not the only bounty hunter working the case, as a bounty droid is also there.

After a brief argument over who gets to claim the bounty, the two decide to split it and engage in a massive firefight with the scores of trandoshans that are guarding the compound. After slaughtering the trandoshans, the two hunters make their way into the compound to meet their bounty.

After blasting their way inside the compound, the Mandalorian and bounty droid discover their target: a baby in a bassinet. But this isn't just any baby — it happens to look just like Yoda. This explains why it is 50 years old (Yoda himself was like 900 years old when he died), as the droid explains that not all species age at the same rate. The droid then reveals that his instructions were to kill the target, and he raises his gun to do just that. But before he can pull the trigger, the Mandalorian shoots him in his droid head, leaving the bounty hunter alone with the Yoda baby... and that's how the episode ends. So what does it mean?

Well, one thing we can say for sure is that this baby isn't Yoda. Yoda died in Return of the Jedi, which takes place just five years before The Mandalorian. This baby would have already been in its 40s by then, so that means the baby is actually a separate member of Yoda's race. The famed Jedi's alien race has never been officially named in Star Wars canon, and they are believed to be extremely rare (fans have only ever met Yoda and Yaddle, the female Jedi High Council member who appeared in the prequel films). And since both members of the race that were previously known to exist were very powerful force users, it seems likely that this baby will also be tremendously powerful.

It's also worth noting the baby's age, as the age of 50 probably wasn't chosen at random. Given that The Mandalorian takes place in the year 9 ABY (After the Battle of Yavin), this would mean the baby was born in 41 BBY. That's the same year that Anakin Skywalker was born, and since he was an immaculate conception born of the force, perhaps this little Yoda baby also had a force-facilitated birth, which could make it another Chosen One. The two being born in the same year seems like too big of a coincidence to ignore.

Whatever the implications of this adorable lil' baby end up being, you can bet they'll be at the center of the rest of The Mandalorian's first season.