Credit: LucasfilmNow that The Mandalorian has wrapped up its third season, creators and stars of the series can start revealing scrapped plans and potential alternate storylines that could have taken place. Katee Sachoff revealed the big character death that was supposed to occur, though this person’s story was significantly altered instead.
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Most of the third season of the series revolved around Din convincing Bo-Katan to take her rightful place as the leader of the Mandalorians. Though she was initially skeptical, seeing the Mythosaur in the waters of Mandalore convinced her. However, that meant she had the tall task of acquiring the Darksaber and reuniting the Mandalorains that left.
One such group of Mandalorians contained her former cohorts in the Nite Owls, Axe Wolves (Simon Kassianides) and Koska Reeves (Sasha Banks). Both characters were introduced in the second season of The Mandalorian and also returned in the third season as a tribe that broke off from Bo-Katan’s leadership.
Naturally, the Nite Owls and whatever Mandalorians followed them had become mercenaries in the galaxy, which is how Bo-Katan tracked them down during a very odd episode on Plazir-15. Though the episode revolved around high society and two big cameos from Lizzo and Jack Black, the basis of the episode was to show Bo-Katan taking her rightful place as the sole leader of the Mandalorian people.
An epic battle ensued between B0-Katan Kryze and Axe Wolves, with Bo-Katan as the victor. It was also revealed that she saved Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) when he lost the Darksaber, meaning the weapon was rightfully hers, and she could take her place when leading the charge to retake Mandalor.
Though these details made for quite a compelling story, Katee Sackhoff revealed that the story was meant to be far different had the creators followed through with a major death in season two. That major death would have been for Axe Wolves.
How ‘The Mandalorian’ Changed Axe Wolves’ Story
During the events of The Mandalorian Season 2, Axe Wolves was meant to sacrifice himself for the good of the group. A scene that showcased Din Djarin taking fire from many Stormtroopers was meant for Axe Wolves in a huge moment of bravery.
Katee Sackhoff said, “Axe, you know, we knew he was supposed to die last year. That was the thing that no one could talk about. There was this moment where he sacrifices himself in that episode. We shot it. In Season 2.”
Interstingly, they had already shot the scene with his death in mind, but that was changed instead of having Din Djarin appear to be the hero of the situation, which is a better idea.
“And then they were like, ‘It needs to be Din. Not him.’ So then you shoot a person’s death and then they take it out and then there’s still a scene left and then everyone’s like, where’d they go?” she added.
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Apparently, during Chapter 11, when Axe Wolves, Bo-Katan Kryze, Koska Reeves, and Din are storming the Imperial freighter, they are pinned down by Stormtroopers with heavy repeating blasters. In a moment of epic bravery, Din storms forward, taking multiple shots but throwing explosives to clear out the remaining troops.
This is the moment that was meant to be for Axe Wolves. He was supposed to sacrifice himself for Bo-Katan and the rest of the Nite Owls. That did not happen, and Wolves was brought back in a big way for the third season.
The Mandalorian Season 3 saw him lose command to Bo-Katan, which led to the retaking of Mandalor. In another odd instance, Axe Wolves flew off to “get help” in the closing events of Chapter 23. This led many to believe he had been working as a spy for Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito); even we theorized that.
Instead, Axe Wolves piloted the stolen Star Destroyer into the Imperial base, ultimately killing Moff Gideon. Though it would have been interesting to see who would have killed Gideon had Wolves died previously, he now has the bragging rights for saving the ambushed Mandalorians.
Related: ‘The Mandalorian’ Just Made the Darksaber Irrelevant
Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau might have bigger plans for Axe Wolves in The Mandalorian Season 4 now that he has turned himself from being a sacrifice to saving the day.
Do you think The Mandalorian changing Axe Wolves’ story was a good thing? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!