The Mandalorian: Who Is Commissioner Helgait? Meet Christopher Lloyd’s Character

Aside from the great storyline, the most remarkable thing about The Mandalorian is the fact that there are a lot of different cameo scenes from notable Star Wars characters and famous celebrities. Episode 6 of season 3 was one wherein there were a lot of notable names that fans were quick to recognize, and one of them was Christopher Lloyd, who we know is a legend in the world of acting. Lloyd played the role of Commissioner Helgait. So, who is he?

Commissioner Helgait is the man in charge of overseeing the droids that are working to keep the planet called Plazir-15 running. However, he used to be a believer of Count Dooku and was the one that secretly plotted to ruin Plazir-15 when he sabotaged the droids and caused them to malfunction. 

While Helgait’s appearance and role in The Mandalorian aren’t entirely important in the greater scheme of things, let’s not forget that he was one of the few people that allowed fans to see and understand that there were still people that remembered the Clone Wars from nearly three decades ago. So, with that said, let’s talk more about Commissioner Helgait and his role in The Mandalorian.

Commissioner Helgait’s Background Explained

We saw in episode 5 of The Mandalorian season 3 that Bo-Katan Kryze had been chosen by the Armorer to be the one to try to unite the people of Mandalore under his leadership so that they could take back their home planet. That was why she and Din Djarin went on a mission to try to seek out the scattered Mandalorians all over the galaxy. And their journey took them to Axe Woves and the Mandalorians, who used to work under Bo-Katan but ended up defecting when they found out she didn’t have the Darksaber.

The opening scene of episode 6 of season 3 allowed us to see Woves and the other Mandalorians working as mercenaries for different people around the galaxy. However, they had a long-term job as the planet’s protectors called Plazir-15. As such, Din and Bo-Katan went to this planet to convince Woves and the other Mandalorians to join their cause and take back Mandalore.

But before the duo could get to Woves, they were taken to the leaders of Plazir-15 against their will. Initially, they thought that the meeting would be a hostile one. But Din and Bo-Katan were surprised to see that the leaders of the planet were friendly and peaceful people in the form of the Duchess and Captain Bombardier, who used to be an Imperial officer but had redeemed himself by helping in the rebuilding of Plazir-15.

The Duchess and Captain Bombardier were willing to allow the two Mandalorians to meet with the Woves under the condition that they would solve an issue that was plaguing their planet. Palazir-15 was a planet that didn’t have a proper workforce because they had employed droids decommissioned from the Empire. Many of those droids used to be battle droids that fought on the Separatists’ side.

However, the problem was that they started malfunctioning while these droids had been reprogrammed. As such, some of these droids started attacking the citizens of the planet and caused problems that the Duchess and Captain Bombardier struggled to solve because the planet didn’t have a police force or an army. And because the New Republic forbade Woves and his Mandalorians from working inside the city of Palazir-15, only Din and Bo-Katan could solve this problem.

The duo was taken to Commissioner Helgait, who monitored the droids from an office within the city. He was one of the most trusted men working under the Duchess and Bombardier because he was given an incredibly important job overseeing the droids’ actions.

Helgait is played by Christopher Lloyd, who isn’t a stranger to some of the older fans of The Mandalorian. That’s because Lloyd is widely known for portraying Dr. Emmett Brown in The Back to the Future film series. As such, he isn’t really a stranger to sci-fi projects. Lloyd also portrayed Uncle Fester Addams in the Addams Family movies of the 1990s.

Going back to the events of The Mandalorian, Lloyd’s Helgait character, as old as he is, was revealed to be a supporter of Count Dooku and the other Separatists during the time of the Clone Wars as he believed in Dooku’s visions and understanding of democracy.

What Is Helgait’s Role in The Mandalorian?

Of course, Helgait was the one who initially assisted the Mandalorian duo in solving the case behind the malfunctioning droids. The mystery took Din and Bo-Katan to a group of former Separatist battle droids. Djarin tried to get physical with the droids to force them to become violent, and one of them bit the bait and started going rogue. The Mandalorians apprehended the droid and found out that it had been confusing a substance called Nepenthé, which was supposed to improve their programming and functions.

However, when Din and Bo-Katan had a sample of the Nepenthé that the battle droid consumed tested, they found out that there were nano-droids that changed the programming of some of the droids in the city. And the one that commissioned the use of this type of Nepenthé was none other than Commissioner Helgait.

As such, the Mandalorians returned to the elderly commissioner to tell him they knew what he had done. That was when Helgait admitted that he was indeed guilty of sabotaging the droids, as he threatened Din and Bo-Katan that he had the power to revert the battle droids to their original programming with a push of a button.

Din and Bo-Katan allowed Helgait to monologue that he never gave up on the Republic and the Empire, as Kryze concluded that he was once a Separatist. Taking offense to that term, Helgait monologued about how he believed in Count Dooku’s visions and how the enforcer of the Jedi killed the Separatists’ leader. But before he could finish his monologue, Helgait was suddenly tased by Bo-Katan, who took the opportunity when the elderly commissioner was too distracted by his own words.

The two Mandalorians took Helgait back to the leaders, who were surprised to see that the man they trusted the most was the one who sabotaged the droids. Helgait admitted that he didn’t like how Captain Bombardier was running things on the planet because Plazir-15 was no longer recognizable ever since he stepped in as one of the leaders. Of course, Helgait wasn’t too fond of Bombardier’s history as a former Imperial officer.

But the Duchess was quick to monologue to defend her husband as she told Helgait that everyone had an equal opportunity to be forgiven. Feeling sorry for his actions, Helgait hoped the Duchess would forgive him, who told him there was still a chance to redeem himself after his exile on the moon of Paraqaat.

While Helgait’s role in the storyline doesn’t matter in the greater scheme of things, he is actually the character that allows us to see the different views and opinions of the different characters in Star Wars. We often look at things from a black-and-white perspective, especially when comparing the Republic with the Empire. But Helgait was a Separatist who thought that the Republic was corrupt and that the Empire was too fascist. Instead, he believed in Count Dooku, who was a known visionary.

Of course, Helgait was one of the few characters that witnessed the Clone Wars and the things that happened in the galaxy. But let’s not forget that Bo-Katan was also there during the Clone Wars and witnessed the Separatists’ atrocities. And we can’t say that Helgait witnessed the atrocities Bo-Katan witnessed nearly 30 years ago.

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