The new trailer for The Mandalorian season 2 suggests that it could be delivering one element many fans hoped to see in Game of Thrones season 8. The first episode of The Mandalorian season 2 releases on Disney+ on October 30, 2020, and it stands as the most anticipated show going right now since Game of Thrones itself came to a controversial end back in 2019. Disney is keeping things pretty secretive with its marketing so far, which is another page taken from the Game of Thrones playbook.
Although The Mandalorian season 2 is expected to feature Star Wars characters such as Boba Fett and Ahsoka Tano, there’s been no sign of them yet in any of the trailers. Instead, the focus has very much been on Din Djarin and Baby Yoda, but that isn’t a bad thing given they’re the core of the show. Their season 2 adventures appear to be taking them to several new locations, including what looks to be Mon Cala (home world of Admiral Ackbar), and an ice planet that could well be Ilum, the location that will eventually become the First Order’s Starkiller Base.
It’s on this world in the new The Mandalorian season 2 trailer that there’s a hint of something Game of Thrones failed to do: ice spiders. At around the 0:27 mark in the trailer, which aired during Monday Night Football, Din can be seen on the ice planet, working on fixing a ship, which is presumably the Razor Crest (as it was shown on the ice planet in a previous trailer). In the background of that scene is what looks like a dead and/or frozen spider (as pictured above), while his ship may also be being supported between what could possibly two much bigger frozen spider legs (the Razor Crest does have legs itself, but the positioning doesn’t quite fit here).
Although the smaller spider isn’t particularly huge, it would at least mean that The Mandalorian is bringing abnormally-large arachnids to the table – something many hoped to see in Game of Thrones season 8. The notion of “ice spiders as big as hounds” is the stuff of legend in Westeros, said to be creatures the White Walkers ride upon. While it’s likely that such monstrous creations will be featured in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the show decided not to use them for practical reasons. Co-showrunner Dan Weiss explained the absence of ice spiders in Game of Thrones by saying: “‘Big as hounds.’ Didn’t we talk about that for thirty seconds? Sounds good. Looks good on a metal album cover. But once they start moving, what does an ice spider look like? Probably doesn’t look great.”
Though it’s somewhat understandable why Game of Thrones decided not to do it, it seems like The Mandalorian has figured out a way. It may be that the ice spiders (if that’s what they are) are only shown to be dead, but even then it would be another part of the show’s already-impressive world building and a fun touch. If they show them alive, even briefly, then The Mandalorian could further one-up Game of Thrones in that sense.
The spider seemingly in the trailer is more like a small dog than a hound, but is still good enough, and there’s the potential for something much bigger. Huge spiders are nothing new to Star Wars – the video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order featured a giant species called Wyyyschokk, while Star Wars Rebels had its own variation, known as Krykna. The one here is on a different planet, but with The Mandalorian season 2 already pulling in elements from both of these pieces of media, then it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise to have giant spiders here as well.
