‘The Mandalorian’: Did Moff Gideon Break Out of Prison?

Moff Gideon was the thorn in the side of Din Djarin and Grogu during the events of the first two seasons of The Mandalorian because he wanted to capture Grogu and use him for whatever nefarious schemes he had. However, we learned in episode 3 of season 3 that there were rumors that Moff Gideon was now on the loose again. So, did Moff Gideon actually brake out of prison?

It is possible that Moff Gideon had indeed broken out of prison and is now at large once more. This was hinted at by a large squadron of Imperial fighters attacking Din Djarin and Bo-Katan. And it is also possible that his underlings or someone more powerful broke Gideon out.

Even though Moff Gideon was always the biggest enemy that Din Djarin faced throughout the events of The Mandalorian, we also need to understand that there must be someone bigger than him that should replace him at this point in the storyline, especially because bigger things are now in motion. And that is what we are going to discuss in this article.

Did Moff Gideon Escape from Prison?

Episode 3 of season 3 of The Mandalorian was surprising because it departed from the usual Din Djarin-focused storyline to shift the events to Coruscant, where Doctor Pershing was now a rehabilitated member of the New Republic after previously spending almost his entire life with the Empire. After a short opening scene involving Din Djarin and Bo-Katan Kryze, a huge chunk of nearly an hour-long episode was dedicated to Pershing’s life on Coruscant.

But while the focus was on Pershing’s quest to try to obtain the equipment that he needed to continue his research on Kaminoan cloning, we also learned during the early portion of his stay in Coruscant that Moff Gideon may have escaped from the grasp of the New Republic and could still be out there somewhere in the galaxy.

Of course, we know Moff Gideon as the big bad guy that Din Djarin had to contend with during the first two seasons of The Mandalorian. He spent around two seasons evading Gideon, who wanted to get his hands on Grogu for research on his ability to use the Force. And when Gideon got his hands on Grogu, Din Djarin stopped at nothing to take the child back.

Moff Gideon was defeated due to a joint effort involving Din Djarin, Bo-Katan Kryze, and Boba Fett. The New Republic authorities subsequently took him into custody to be tried for his war crimes. And it looked like we had seen the last of this powerful Imperial officer.

But episode 3 of season 3 seemed to hint that he might have escaped prison. That’s because one of the amnestied Imperial officers said that he heard a rumor that Gideon escaped from the New Republic while on his way to the war tribunal that was supposed to judge him for his crimes. But the other amnestied officer quickly shared that he heard a rumor that Gideon was now hooked up with a mind flayer.

Whatever the case, it seems like Moff Gideon is now out and about. Of course, some clues hint at the possibility that he may have escaped the New Republic and is now out to continue his search for Grogu.

The first clue we were given was that a large squadron of Imperial fighters attacked Din Djarin and Bo-Katan. Bo-Katan initially thought these belonged to a small-time Imperial warlord that she had angered, considering that these were TIE Interceptors. But when they saw that more of these fighters were on their way to neutralize them, it became clear that they were dealing with a powerful remnant of the Empire.

On top of that, we saw during the episode Elia Kane, another amnestied Imperial officer that used to work for Gideon, set Pershing up so that she could steal his memories using the mind flayer and send this data to her superiors so that they could use his knowledge and expertise in the field of cloning.

As such, there’s a good chance that Gideon escaped from the New Republic somewhere between seasons 2 and 3 of The Mandalorian. And that is why he is likely to appear as a threat to Din Djarin and Grogu once more.

Who Broke Gideon Out?

As mentioned, there is a possibility that Moff Gideon has indeed escaped from the New Republic and has rendezvoused with the remnants of the Empire to resume their plan of getting their hands on Grogu and on using Pershing’s research on cloning. But who was responsible for breaking Gideon out?

The fact that Gideon still had a loyal underling in the New Republic in the form of Elia Kane is a factor that makes us believe that he could have had a contingency plan in place in case he ended up getting captured. As such, he might have ordered some of his men to keep track of him and break him out of prison in case the New Republic captured him.

But we are looking at a much larger person that could have had something to do with Moff Gideon’s escape. And we are talking about Thrawn, who used to work as one of the Grand Admirals of the Empire during the height of its power.

The last time we saw Thrawn was at the end of Star Wars: Rebels when he and Ezra Bridger were taken into deep space by Purrgils. He has been missing since then, but we know he is still alive. That’s because Ahsoka, back in season 2 of The Mandalorian, was looking for Thrawn when she was interrogating one of the Imperial magistrates working under him.

In that regard, it is clear that Ahsoka is aware that Thrawn has been operating in secret ever since he disappeared years ago after his defeat in Lothal. The emperor might have instructed him to serve as the contingency plan of the Empire in case the Rebels were to defeat Palpatine. And Thrawn must have spent years trying to regain a semblance of the power of the Empire by bringing together some of its remnants.

As Bo-Katan said, the TIE Fighters that attacked them couldn’t have belonged to a normal Imperial warlord. While Moff Gideon was no normal Imperial warlord, Thrawn was the only man powerful enough to have commanded such a large force of Empire loyalists. And that means he might have been responsible for breaking Gideon out because he also needed him.

Of course, we are merely speculating here. We don’t know whether or not Thrawn will appear in season 3 of The Mandalorian. But we know he is still a threat in the galaxy, especially considering that Ahsoka Tano spent years searching for him.