Now that we have officially passed the halfway point of the third season of The Mandalorian, it has finally been revealed to us how Baby Yoda *ahem* Grogu escaped from Palpatine’s Purge and how the Jedi Master Kelleran Beq – played the unjustly derided Ahmed Best in a spectacular return – saved him. Yet, though we now know the random obscure character who saved Grogu from Order 66, we still don’t know who the real villain is halfway through the season.

Some clues provide reasonable theories about the season’s villain and a lot more wild speculative theories about who the big bad Mando and Grogu might face. Based on these facts and rumors, here are our best guesses as to who might be the villain of the third season of The Mandalorian.
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Moff Gideon

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The most obvious choice for the villain of the third season is Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Giuseppe), as he served as the main villain of The Mandalorian since the beginning. Gideon was an officer of the Imperial Security Bureau during the reign of Emperor Palpatine, meaning he processed the flow of vital information throughout the Empire during the Rebellion and understood that knowledge is power. He took part in the Purge of Mandalore, wiping out the warrior race and killing millions.

After Palpatine’s death, Gideon rallied Imperial troops into his own private space force and hunted Grogu for his abilities with the Force. After Mando defeated Gideon with the help of Bo-Katan Kryze and Luke Skywalker, Gideon was turned into the New Republic to answer for his war crimes. We don’t know what else has happened to him, but the idea that Gideon will rot away in a cell for the rest of The Mandalorian doesn’t seem likely, given his fierce determination and role in the show.

Grand Admiral Thrawn

Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) is a legendary character in the Star Wars universe outside the films and might be after Grogu as well. Introduced in Timothy Zahn’s 1991 novel Heir to the Empire, which kickstarted Star Wars outside of movies and kept the franchise alive between the original and prequels trilogies, beginning the Expanded Universe of Star Wars, which served as the official canon until 2014, the military mastermind Thrawn has had an undeniable impact on the franchise.

When Mando (Pedro Pascal) and Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) leave Mandalore after bathing in the Living Waters, they are pursued by a fleet of TIE Interceptors, which destroy Bo’s castle before being destroyed by the Mandalorians. But we don’t know who sent them in the first place, and some theories as the mastermind behind this. Of course, Thrawn is often the mastermind behind every theory these days ever since he was previously teased in The Mandalorian. It’s more likely that since he is the rival of Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson), Thrawn will probably appear for his first live-action debut in her upcoming series Ahsoka – but who knows?

Related: Ahsoka: Why She May Face the Chiss Ascendency In Her Star Wars Series

Elia Kane

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Another Imperial baddie makes the list of possible villains, Elia Kane (Katy M. O’Brian). Recently introduced in season three, Kane was an officer aboard Gideon’s warship and helped him hunt Grogu. After Gideon was defeated, she joined the New Republic Amnesty Program with another Imperial from Gideon’s rule Dr. Penn Pershing (Omid Abtahi). Both were starting a new life with the program and helping the New Republic, but Kane coaxes Pershing into stealing a mobile cloning lab before turning him into the authorities and frying his mind.

Yet Kane may not be the one in charge, but instead working for another remanent of the Empire, and introduce Snoke (Andy Serkis) as Kane’s master, who may (or may not since The Rise of Skywalker wasn’t very clear about anything) be a clone of Palpatine himself. Kane may be too “small potatoes” to be the main villain but may help to lay the foundation of Palpatine’s resurrection.

Related: Gina Carano Defends The Mandalorian’s Katy O’Brian from Toxic Fans

The Armorer

Disney

The Armorer (Emily Swallow) is the mysterious religious leader of Mando’s covert in The Mandalorian, and she may be the real villain in season three. Many theories surround her because we don’t know anything about her, not even her name. Alongside her possible connection to Darth Maul, many ideas suggest that The Armorer is an undercover Imperial agent, pointing out her lies about Mandalore, keeping the other Mandalorians tied to a suffocating religion to stop them uniting, and may be supplying Thrawn or Gideon or some other Imperial leader with information on Mando and Bo-Katan. This would be the most interesting choice for a villain, as The Armorer has been there since the beginning and would bring everything about the Mandalorian religion into doubt.

There are many more possibilities for The Mandalorian’s season three baddie, but we’ll have to wait and see if any of the numerous theories turn out to be true or completely false.