The Mandalorian: Giancarlo Esposito teases Moff Gideon’s plans in season 2

Moff Gideon is primed to cause more trouble for the Mandalorian and Baby Yoda in the upcoming second season.

Moff Gideon’s hunt for The Child will continue in season two of The Mandalorian. Giancarlo Esposito spoke with IGN at the Television Critics Association winter press tour, where he revealed that viewers will learn more about Gideon’s machinations.

When it came to specifics, the actor played coy, but it sounds like the Imperial leader may be interested in exploiting Baby Yoda’s abilities. He also hints that this could aid his attempt to bring order to a chaos-filled galaxy:

"“I know … Like any great leader or scientist — clue, clue, clue — with someone who is advanced in a certain way, yeah, you could want to be their best friend, or you could want to co-opt what is inside them to figure out how to make all of us a little better at humanity. So it’s that power and control of a Moff leader who is trying to put the universe back together.”"

Esposito, however, doesn’t share his character’s desire to control or harm The Child. In fact, he’s become attached to the character, even going as far as to claim that the actual puppet used on set is spellbinding:

"“Are you kidding me? It melts my heart, because the reality is, this little baby does things that you could never imagine and when you look at those eyes and that little body, how can you not help but fall in love? Even me as Giancarlo, even me as Moff Gideon, I gotta walk away, I can’t look too much at that baby because that baby will put a spell on you.”"

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Aside from his obsession with Baby Yoda, Gideon also has a past with the titular hero, Djin Djarin, and is the first to refer to him by name. Although Esposito is unsure how the relationship between the two will progress, he tells IGN that he hopes to see more of it.

Moff Gideon played a minimal role in The Mandalorian’s debut season, having only appeared in the final two episodes. The character is introduced as a former Imperial officer of the Empire’s secret police who helped the Empire take over Mandalore. In the present, he’s in league with the Client (Werner Herzog), who he has contracted to deliver The Child. Gideon ultimately has the Client killed when his death troopers open fire on him shortly after the moff and his unit arrive on the planet Navarro.

After chasing down the Mando and his allies in the season finale, Djarin manages to bring down Gideon’s TIE fighter. But the moff survives and manages to carve his way out of the wreckage using a Darksaber, a weapon that has fans and Esposito excited. The latter will return in his antagonistic role when the second season of The Mandalorian arrives on Disney Plus later this year.