The Mandalorian loves itself a reference, whether it’s vaunted Star Wars heroes, elements of expanded universes past, or name drops and teases of its producer’s prior work in the galaxy far, far away. But rarely does the show drop Chekov-style references — linking to the past to set up a future to come.
Early in “The Apostate,” as Din Djarin and Grogu make their way back to the planet Nevarro in the former’s new (ish) Naboo Starfighter, we pause on a moment in hyperspace as Grogu gazes out into the stretched stars and lights of FTL travel… but what he sees isn’t just starlight.
Fading out in the background of hyperspace as quickly as they appear, the Starfighter is shadowed by at first one, and then two, and then a whole herd of massive, tentacled creatures that look like massive alien whales. It’s the first time in live-action Star Wars we’ve seen hyperspace used by something organic, and the first time we’ve seen this kind of creature — but it’s not the first time they’ve appeared in Star Wars.
What Were the Space Whales in The Mandalorian Season 3?
These space whales are called Purrgils and are some of the oldest creatures in the Star Wars galaxy. The size of starships, the sentient beings live in the vacuum of deep space and feed on a gaseous material called Clouzon-36. Although Clouzon-36 was also harvested by the other sentient beings of the galaxy to be refined into hypermatter fuel, this synthesis was a natural byproduct of the Purrgils’ respiratory systems, making them the rare organic species capable of natural hyperspace travel.
The Purrgils are so ancient that their method of folding space and time and creating “simu-tunnels” of hyperspeed travel are thought to have inspired the nascent spacefaring beings of the galaxy to develop technology-based hyperspace navigation, sowing the seeds for galactic civilisation to exist as we know it today in the Star Wars universe.
Where Have We Seen the Space Whales in Star Wars Before?
The Purrgils made their debut in the 2016 season two episode of Star Wars Rebels, “The Call,” where the crew of the Ghost came across a swarm of Purrgils while searching for Clouzon-36 that their Rebel Cell could use to fuel their ships. Helping the swarm feast on the Clouzon gas they needed to survive — after being hampered by a nearby mining facility harvesting it for fuel synthesis — the young Jedi apprentice Ezra Bridger forged a connection in the Force to the creatures, allowing him to use his abilities to influence the Purrgils into coming to the aid of the Ghost and destroying the mining plant.
All this has a massive payoff two seasons later in Rebels’ series finale. Battling Grand Admiral Thrawn aboard his Star Destroyer Chimaera over Ezra’s home planet of Lothal, Ezra used his connection to call on a swarm of massive Purrgil to overwhelm Thrawn’s forces — as well as transport the Chimaera, with Thrawn and Ezra aboard, into hyperspace, seemingly never to be seen again. Well, that is, until Rebels’ own epilogue teased that Ahsoka Tano’s next adventure would be to travel the galaxy to find Ezra once more.
What Do the Space Whales Mean for The Mandalorian and Ahsoka?
The Purrgils’ appearance in The Mandalorian season three aren’t necessarily a teaser for things to come in this show, but in another spinoff series: Ahsoka.
When the former Jedi made her live-action debut in the Mandalorian season two episode “The Jedi,” she made it clear that she was still hunting both Thrawn and Ezra, searching for information about the Grand Admiral’s whereabouts from his former officers. All these years later with her own spinoff series confirmed, we’ve since learned that the self-titled Ahsoka will follow her as she, alongside Rebels’ own Mandalorian, Sabine Wren, attempt to track their former ally. Given the Purrgils’ connection to Ezra’s disappearance in the climax of Rebels, Mandalorian sowing the seeds for their appearance to come in the series makes a lot of sense — especially as one of the rare moments of nostalgic cameo-connections the show makes that doesn’t immediately bludgeon you over the head with what it means for the wider Star Wars galaxy.
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