Michael Biehn finally made his appearance in The Mandalorian Season 2, with Episode 5 (Chapter 13) – titled ‘The Jedi‘, in which Biehn portrayed ‘Lang‘; a hired mercenary who is oppressing a city and its people at the behest of a magistrate named Morgan Elsbeth.
Michael was, of course, the first hero in the Terminator franchise with the character with Kyle Reese, and when I first watched The Terminator (at the age of eight, if my memory serves me correctly) I was drawn to the character of Reese, thinking that he was so f*cking cool.
The cast of first movie made an unbelievable story believable, but it was Michael who really sold the story; with his delivery of exposition and his story of a war torn future ruled by machines – which took a special level of acting ability. Had Biehn not been the stellar actor that he is,- that story, The Terminator, may not have the same level of success and credibility.
I have to admit that this was my first episode of The Mandalorian, and the sole reason I tuned in was because Michael Biehn was in the show. I do have a fondness for the OG Star Wars trilogy, but Terminator was always my Star Wars, so Michael Biehn necessitated the viewing for me.
If you haven’t seen Michael’s episode, and don’t want any spoilers, then I suggest you stop reading right…
about
now.
Firstly, it looks like Michael died in this episode (though, perhaps looks are deceiving) which makes me feel like he wasn’t utilized properly, though at the same time I think it’s great that Michael got to join the Star Wars universe, so really I’m happy for him.
The episode overall was actually a surprise, and I thought it was well shot and enjoyable to watch. Also, fans of the American old west and Michael’s ‘Johnny Ringo‘ (Tombstone) will very much feel at home for the showdown between Michael’s Lang and the show’s titular character the Mandalorian. It’s quite literally a blast.
I suppose they could certainly resurrect Lang if they wanted to, and excuse his death – if he was perhaps half man, half machine, like the Star Wars comics bounty hunter ‘Beilert Valance‘.
I think that it would be great to see Michael Biehn’s character explored some more in the future, perhaps if they genuinely thought he was dead but he rose from the ground to prove otherwise, or there was some other darkly sinister reason for a reappearance.
I kept an eye out for any Terminator easter eggs in the episode; but other than the prison camp-like surroundings of the city being controlled in part by Lang, which could be compared to SkyNet internment camps – there wasn’t really anything notable – though Lang did command some droids called HK-87’s to hunt and kill for him, which was pretty Terminator-esque but Terminator Fans will know that the the names of the droid units is even more fitting as they are HK units, short for ‘Hunter Killers‘ and yes, the Star Wars universe calls them Hunter Killers also. On comparing the HK units from Star Wars; it appears that they were added to the franchise in video games and comics in the 2000s, whilst the HK units have been in the Terminator movies since 1984.
As a fan of Kyle Reese – it was nice to see Biehn wielding a shotgun again, but the model is closer in style to that seen in Aliens, rather than Terminator.
This episode will also be remembered for giving Star Wars fans a live action appearance of Rosario Dawson as ‘Ahsoka Tano‘ (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) and the name reveal of baby Yoda as ‘Grogu‘.
Legacy Effects work on the show and their work is supervised by John Rosengrant who, of course, is a big name when it comes to Terminator VFX – so it was nice to see his name in the mix.
On digging into the Star Wars lore a little more; the HK series of droids has a somewhat similar story to Terminator. The droid HK-01 was a rogue prototype Hunter Killer assassin built by the Czerka Corporation. Sometime after the droid’s activation, it rebelled against organic life and started the ‘Great Droid Revolution‘. HK-01 bears a strong similarity to SkyNet, as it becomes largely self-aware and sentient, and begins reprogramming other droids to join the cause. This droid first appeared in Role Playing Game (RPG) ‘Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic‘, so we wouldn’t be surprised if some liberties were taken with the story of Terminator.
What did you think of Michael Biehn in The Mandalorian?
Leave a comment…
*Special thanks to Baek Doo San on Youtube for the correction regarding the Old Republic.