One of the strongest aspects of new Star Wars media is exploring unknown reaches of the galaxy and meeting new characters along the way. Star Wars Outlaws looks set to continue that trend, but it’ll also bring back some forgotten faces, like that of Emilia Clarke’s Lady Qi’ra from 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story. She might not be the only spin-off character making an appearance, though, as the game’s new story trailer suggests a formidable villain from The Mandalorian may stop you in your tracks.
According to a recent Game Informer preview of the new PS5 game and new Xbox game, Emilia Clarke’s Lady Qi’ra appears in Star Wars Outlaws – but in likeness only, sadly. Elaborating on Game Informer’s coverage, editor Brian Shea adds on social media that “regarding the Qi’ra in Star Wars Outlaws news: I’ve confirmed it will not be Emilia Clarke portraying her in the game.” It’s a slightly disappointing caveat, especially as the character’s last on-screen appearance left some pretty serious questions hanging in the air. Will we ever have that Darth Maul cameo resolved?
Ubisoft’s forthcoming action RPG game will take place between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, which is a considerable time jump, as Solo: A Star Wars Story is set before the events of the original trilogy. It’ll be intriguing to see how Qi’ra has survived since then. You can see her reveal in the latest issue of Game Informer.
However, what’s even more interesting to us is that the space game’s newest trailer also confirms the presence of Death Troopers – a sinister military force wielded by the villainous Moff Gideon. Famously portrayed by Breaking Bad star Giancarlo Esposito in the Disney+ show The Mandalorian, Gideon favors Death Troopers in his cavalry during his efforts to purge the planet Mandalore. He would also go on to concoct the Dark Trooper, a leap forward in droid warfare.
While we haven’t seen any hard evidence of Gideon like we have for Qi’ra, YouTuber ‘AndyReloads’ theorizes in his handy trailer recap that Ubisoft’s relationship with Esposito could lend credence to the character’s reappearance. Esposito previously portrayed Antón Castillo, the antagonist of Far Cry 6, which is the latest addition to the long-running open world game franchise. We wouldn’t be surprised to see a small, Esposito-performed cameo for Gideon given the Ubisoft connections.
Last year’s Star Wars Jedi Survivor, one of the best PS5 games and best Xbox games you can play right now, had a few cheeky cameos to discover if you looked hard enough, so hopefully Outlaws can follow suit.
We’ll just have to wait until the recently-confirmed Star Wars Outlaws release date arrives to find out for sure if Gideon is lurking in the shadows.
In related news, the Star Wars Outlaws age rating proves it is basically ‘GTA 6 meets Star Wars’, and the next Xbox console is going “full steam ahead” into production.