Warning! This article contains spoilers for The Mandalorian, season 3, episode 1.The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1 brought Din face to face with a group of Anzellans, the same race from which The Rise of Skywalker's Babu Frik hailed. In The Mandalorian season 3's premiere episode "Chapter 17 - The Apostate," Din Djarin travels to Nevarro to reunite with an old friend in Carl Weathers' Greef Karga. Upon meeting High Magistrate Karga, Din reveals he wishes to bring IG-11 back online so that the droid can help him and Grogu navigate the decimated planet of Mandalore.
The return of IG-11 is surprising, with no details of such a plot point being included in any of the marketing for The Mandalorian season 3. That being said, Greef suggests taking IG-11 to a particular group on Nevarro after Mando's own efforts to restore the droid go awry. Pedro Pascal's titular Mandalorian obliges and takes IG-11's remains to a shop run by a familiar Star Wars species: the Anzellans.
The Mandalorian Season 3 Reveals Anzellans Are The Galaxy's Best Droidsmiths
One of the details that is revealed about Anzellans in The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1 is that the species are the best droidsmiths in the Outer Rim. After Din attempted to bring IG-11 back online himself, resulting in the droid reverting to his original programming that saw his main mission be to eliminate Grogu, Karga suggests taking it to the Anzellans. This is when the High Magistrate himself heaps praise upon the Anzellans, stating that "Nevarro has attracted the best droidsmiths in the Outer Rim."
That leads into the scene in the Anzellans' store, linking to one of the other major appearances of the species in Star Wars. The first appearance of the Anzellans came in Star Wars: The The film introduced Babu Frik, another Anzellan droidsmith who worked on C-3PO to access the forbidden Sith code deep within the protocol droid's memory bank, linking to the engineering capabilities of the Anzellans in The Mandalorian.
Anzellans Can Speak Galactic Basic
Another interesting detail about the Anzellans revealed in The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1 is that they can speak Galactic Basic. In the Star Wars galaxy, Basic is the term used for the real-world language of English and is the most prevalent language spoken throughout the galaxy. The reason Anzellans speaking Basic is interesting despite this is due to Babu Frik's inability to speak it fluently in The Rise of Skywalker.
In The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1, however, the Anzellans mostly speak Basic that can be understood (for Karga). While their speech still features a few indecipherable words, and they speak their native language to one another, the Anzellans can be much easier acknowledged in of their speech. This even extends to some Star Wars curse words, with an Anzellan referring to IG-11 as "poodoo".
Who Voices The Anzellans In The Mandalorian
The Anzellans in The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1 sound all but identical to the voice of Babu Frik, which makes sense considering Shirley Henderson once again returns to voice the species. Shirley Henderson voiced the character Babu Frik in The Rise of Skywalker, and is perhaps best known for her role as Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter film series. While The Rise of Skywalker's Shirley Henderson returning to voice the Anzellans in The Mandalorian provides a nice bit of continuity between differing Star Wars projects, it also reveals the interesting detail that all Anzellans sound extremely similar and indistinguishable from one another.
Where Else Anzellans Have Appeared In Star Wars
With the Anzellans making an appearance in The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1, the question will be raised of where else the species has been seen across Star Wars' vast collection of projects. The most popular appearance of the Anzellan species in Star Wars came in the ninth and final installment in the Skywalker Saga, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The droidsmith Babu Frik was featured in the film as a worker for the Spice Runners of Kijimi, and in many scenes stole the show.
Since the Anzellans' first appearance in The Rise of Skywalker in 2019, the species has popped up in other areas of the Star Wars franchise. Another notable inclusion comes in Star Wars' The High Republic novel series, in which an Anzellan named Shug Drabor appears in Daniel Jose Older's The High Republic: Midnight Horizon. Drabor was again an engineer, known for overseeing many important construction projects in the shipyard of Corellia. Now, combined with "The Apostate", the Anzellan species has appeared in three major Star Wars properties, with potentially more appearances to come if The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1 is setting a precedent.
The Mandalorian season 3, episode is now streaming on Disney+. New Episodes release Wednesdays.