Posted in: Disney+, Star Wars, TV | Tagged: disney plus, Emily Swallow, lucasfilm, season 3, The armorer, The Mandalorian

The Mandalorian: Emily Swallow Addresses Armorer Fan Theory Twist

At SF Fan Expo, Emily Swallow addressed the debated Season 3 fan theory about The Armorer in The Mandalorian and what it could have meant.

We didn't see too much of Emily Swallow on the Disney+ series The Mandalorian in earlier seasons, but that changed dramatically in season three with Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) trying to reclaim their honor as Mandalorians. Their paths took them to The Armorer, the leader of the Children of the Watch, staunch traditionalists who adhere strictly to their ways, like always keeping their helmets on almost exclusively, especially in front of outsiders. Din broke that when infiltrating the Empire, and Bo wore her helmet only in times of combat and when dealing with the tribe. Things could have ended up differently if a fan theory panned out as Swallow addressed at the San Francisco Fan Expo.

The Mandalorian: A Season Three Twist That Wasn't

When asked by The Direct about the season three theory that the Armorer was actually a secret spy for the Empire's Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito), "[They] thought she was a spy! Yeah, I definitely saw that!" Swallow recalled following the premiere of season three, episode seven, "Chapter 23: The Spies." "I was confronted with that. I've been doing a lot of conventions this year, and I was at a convention the weekend after that episode aired, and almost everybody that came up to my table they were kind of looking at me out of the side of their eyes; they were like, 'Can we trust you?'"

The theory was so sound Swallow second-guessed her character's intentions. "And it was so fascinating to me on many levels. I mean, first of all, it made me question whether I knew what was actually going to happen in the finale because people were so certain, and we'd shot it a year before, and so I had to, I came home to my husband and I said, 'I've got to look at my script for that last episode again," she said. "I don't remember there being anything that would suggest that I turned, but did they have me shoot fake scenes?' Like, I didn't know. You hear about that happening."

Not only did Swallow express disappointment had the theory turned out true as the united Mandalorian front defeated Gideon and his forces in the season finale "Chapter 24: The Return." "But then it was also, I was surprised at how personally I took it, and not because it hurt my feelings as Emily, but more because this character is somebody of such integrity, and it seems to me that she cares so completely about her people more than she does about herself, and I felt like for them to cause a character like that to turn would be sort of a gut punch to the audience. Sure, it would be exciting and thrilling, but to me, it felt like it would just be so disappointing." For more, including how the experience taught her about audience cynicism, the Armorer's mystery, and what more might lie in store for The Armorer (who still hasn't taken her helmet off) in the future, you can check out the interview here.

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