Clash on Nevarro

In 9 ABY, during the reign of the New Republic, the Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin was hired on the planet Nevarro to capture a Force-sensitive infant named Grogu. His benefactor, an individual known only as the Client, secretly represented the infamous Moff Gideon, leader of a remnant of the toppled Galactic Empire. Djarin was one of several agents of the Bounty Hunters' Guild hired by the Client for the Moff, who desired to obtain Grogu for deeply personal reasons. Although Djarin successfully retrieved Grogu from the planet Arvala-7 and delivered it to the Client, he grew worried for the infant's safety and later shot his way through the remnant's facility to rescue him.

Greef Karga, an expeditor of the Bounty Hunters' Guild, confronted Djarin for his breach of the Guild's Code, prompting an outbreak of violence in a Nevarro City between Karga's hunters and Djarin's people, a collection of Mandalorian warriors known as the Tribe. Although Djarin was able to escape aboard his gunship, the Razor Crest, with Grogu in tow, the other members of the Tribe stayed behind to cover his escape. In response to the fighting, Gideon's Imperials imposed despotic rule over Nevarro, impeding on the work of the Guild and massacring the Tribe at their covert. As Karga began to rethink his relationship with the remnant, Djarin sought out non-Guild work on remote planets, but he was persistently confronted by other hunters seeking Grogu. Rumors of his issues with the guild spread to the likes of Master Assassin Fennec Shand and his former partner Ranzar Malk.

Some weeks after his escape from Nevarro, after Djarin had an altercation with the New Republic and Malk's crew, Karga sent a message to Djarin, seemingly offering the Mandalorian a clean slate with the Guild in return for the assassination of the Client. In reality, however, Karga planned to lure the bounty hunter back to Nevarro in order to kill him and deliver Grogu himself. With few other options, Djarin agreed, though he first set out to gather allies against Karga's wishes. These included the former Rebel Alliance shock trooper Cara Dune and the Ugnaught moisture farmer Kuiil, who brought with him the reprogrammed IG-series assassin droid IG-11 as well as three blurrg mounts. Already operating under the assumption that they would be walking into a trap, the droid-hating Djarin did not permit the IG unit to leave the ship during the mission.

Djarin and his companions rendezvoused with their supposed ally in a remote area of Nevarro's lava fields. After unsuccessfully negotiating to have Dune remain with the Razor Crest, Karga, accompanied by a trio of human, Nikto, and Trandoshan bounty hunters, led Djarin's blurgg-riding crew across Nevarro's rocky landscape. After traveling for a time, the party camped out near the banks of a lava river to pass the night. There, Karga fabricated a plan for the next day: he and Djarin would bring Grogu as bait to the city's common house, where the Mandalorian would promptly kill the Client. Assuring that his posse of bounty hunters could handle any one of the four stormtroopers that guarded the Imperial agent, Karga insisted that nothing about the operation would go wrong for the group.

The Guild leader's words were swiftly proven false, however, as the party was shortly after attacked by a group of creatures called Nevarro reptavians. The creatures swooped in from the darkness of the Nevarro night, carrying away the Trandoshan hunter and two of Kuiil's blurrgs before being driven away by blaster fire. During the ambush, Karga received a slash wound across his right forearm, an injury that delivered a fast-acting poison to his body. Although Dune attempted as best she could to treat him with an available medpac, the creatures' venom had spread too quickly to be stopped. As Karga prepared to die, Grogu approached him, reaching out through the Force to completely heal the otherwise fatal wound. The incident shook Karga, forcing him to reconsider his planned betrayal of Djarin and his companions.

The next day, with only one blurrg remaining, Djarin and Dune joined the bounty hunters on foot as they approached the city. On the outskirts of town, Karga turned on his remaining hunters, gunning them down before they could draw their blasters on the Mandalorian. Karga revealed his original intentions to the trio, confessing that Grogu's actions changed his mind and offering to assist them in actually taking out the Client. After a heated debate, the group decided that Kuiil would return to the Crest with Grogu while Karga and Dune escorted a captured Djarin to the warlord, bringing the infant's sealed hovering pram as a decoy. Once inside, Karga would slip a weapon to Djarin, giving him a shot at the Client and allowing him a chance to ensure Grogu would be free from Imperial hunters.

Djarin, Dune and Karga walked down to Nevarro city, greeting two scout troopers at the entrance, the trooper AP-1982 checked the Karga's chain code. The three then made their way to the common house, Karga taking the cuffed Djarin to the Client under the watch of his escort. After talking about Mandalore and the Empire's rule, the Client asked to see Grogu, but was eventually interrupted when Moff Gideon contacted him. In this time, Djarin uncuffed himself and took a blaster from Karga. Over transmission, Gideon asked the Client for confirmation that Grogu had been brought to the common house and remarked that the Client's confirmation should be double-checked. That was when Gideon's squad of death troopers fired on the common house from outside, killing the Client and his stormtroopers while Djarin, Dune and Karga took cover.

After the Death troopers ceased fire, more stormtroopers arrived on either foot or aboard a K79-S80 Imperial Troop Transport to reinforce the blockade outside the common house. Djarin contacted Kuiil, asking the Ugnaught to escape with Grogu aboard the Razor Crest, but the two scout troopers at Nevarro city's entrance listened in on the call and made haste towards Kuiil and the Crest. Gideon joined his forces, landing behind the group on his Outland TIE fighter. Moving to the vanguard of the Imperial troops, the moff insisted that Djarin and his allies did not understand what Grogu truely was, bragging that mysterious creature would soon be his. The mandalorian contacted Kuiil again for an update, but found no response as the Ugnaught was intercepted by the two scout troopers and killed, trooper JS-1975 snatching Grogu.

The pair of scout troopers traveled back towards Nevarro city and awaited nearby for confirmation that they could enter the settlement. The troopers discussed Grogu and inspected him before being interrupted by IG-11, who had arrived to retrieve the infant. The scout troopers threatened the droid, but IG-11 swiftly incapacitated both and took Grogu aboard one of the speeder bikes. Meanwhile, Djarin and his comrades searched for an escape route from the common house while Gideon's escort assembled an E-Web heavy repeating blaster before the building. Dune attempted to break into a vent to the Nevarro sewers but was unsuccessful.

Gideon, having heard the shooting, gave an ultimatum where Djarin's people surrender or face the E-Web turret, revealing Dune, Djarin and Karga's official backgrounds. After Karga asked for assurance, the moff further stated that he could not be trusted to keep any promises and left the group until nightfall to surrender. Inside the common house, Karga and Dune tabled their options while Djarin identified Gideon and explained how the moff knew of the Mandalorian's name. Djarin attempted to contact Kuiil again, and got a response from IG-11, who was advancing on Nevarro city on his commandeered speeder bike with Grogu. The droid informed the Mandalorian of Kuiil's death and his intentions at that time.

IG-11 reached the entrance of Nevarro city, gunning down the troopers guarding there. The droid then continued through the streets on his stolen speeder bike, shooting numerous stormtroopers along the way. Gideon's blockade outside of the common house were alerted to the action and fired on the approaching IG-11, who disembarked from his speeder to allow the vehicle to crash in a distraction effort. With the droid engaging in a gunfight with the stormtroopers and death troopers, Djarin asked Dune to cover him, and the ex-rebel rained blasterfire onto the troopers outside. The Mandalorian himself came out of the common house, Karga behind him, and the pair fought the enemy troops. Djarin was attacked by two death troopers, but defeated both with Karga's assistance.

As the fighting continued, Djarin took the E-Web heavy repeating blaster off of its stand and used it to spray even more fire onto the enemy stormtroopers, supported by gunfire from his comrades. At an entry point to the common house, a death trooper planted a detonator which destroyed the blast door and shook Dune from her position. Three death troopers then entered the building, suppressing the ex-rebel. In the meantime, Gideon arrived on the battlefield, approaching Djarin. While Dune successfully killed the death troopers trying to eliminate her, Gideon fired on the Mandalorian before shooting the E-Web's power pack, erupting an explosion which injured Djarin.

Exiting the common house, Dune rescued the downed Mandalorian under the cover of Karga and IG-11, who followed her back into the building. Karga and IG-11 scrambled to open the sewer vent to escape the surrounded common house. Dune simultaneously tended to Djarin, who was bleeding and wanted his comrades to leave without him to protect Grogu. Meanwhile, Gideon summoned an incinerator trooper, who flamed the interior of the common house through the broken window before moving to the breached entrance to spray another burst of fire into the building. After the trooper entered the common house, Grogu moved forward to deflect the soldier's next wave of fire with the Force, turning it back onto the incinerator trooper.

IG-11 successfully cut through the sewer vent, allowing the group a way into the sewers. Djarin insisted that he would be left behind, but the droid stayed behind as Karga and Dune escaped through the vent opening with Grogu. IG-11 wanted to remove Djarin's helmet in order to save him from his wounds, but the Mandalorian refused as the Mandalorian Creed forbade him from showing his face to living things. The droid insisted that he was not a living thing, and thus removed the helmet and used a bacta spray to help heal Djarin. The two then entered the sewers and reunited with Dune, Karga and Grogu, the former most helping Djarin limp along.

The group navigated their way to the Mandalorian covert to seek help from the Mandalorians there. However, they instead found the armor of fallen Mandalorians, with only the covert's armorer remaining. While the Mandalorian Armorer melted some of the scattered armor, she inspected Grogu, identifying him as Djarin's new foundling and tasking the Mandalorian with reuniting the infant with the Jedi, whom she believed to be Grogu's kind. After giving Djarin and his comrades directions towards Neverro's lava fields, the Armorer then gifted Djarin his own signet and jetpack as well as some munitions.

With stormtrooper forces searching the sewers Djarin's group departed for the underground lava river. The Armorer finished melting the remaining Mandalorian armor at the same time before being confronted by a squad of stormtroopers. She was questioned on where Djarin and his comrades had gone, but instead of answering she proceeded defeated the squad. Djarin's group reached the river and commandeered a boat to take towards the lava fields, the boat's ferry droid reactivating to comply to their orders.

As Djarin and his comrades approached the end of the underground section of the lava river, the Mandalorian scanned heat signatures which appeared to be a trap set up by a platoon of Gideon's troops. Dune ordered the ferry droid to stop the boat, but had to resort to destroying the droid to stop it from moving the vessel. The boat, though, did not stop moving, and Dune stressed that she could not surrender. Knowing that the troopers were solely after Grogu, IG-11 decided that he was going to use his security protocols to destroy the enemy platoon. Djarin refused to let the droid destroy himself, but IG-11 insisted that there was no other way and proceeded to walk into the Imperial trap ahead. As the droid had stated, his protocol made him detonate and kill all of the troopers.

Djarin's group exited the tunnel, passing the bodies of the platoon which IG-11 had just destroyed. That was when Gideon arrived flying his Outland TIE fighter. The moff released a barrage of fire at the boat while under fire from Djarin and his companions, but missed and flew around for another strafing run. Djarin put on his new jetpack and flew up before Gideon's TIE as it approached again, using a grappling line to latch onto the fighter. Gideon attempted to shake off the Mandalorian, but the moff's adversary was able to grab onto the frame of the Outland TIE fighter and plant a detonator. Gideon's TIE was crippled, and crashed onto the lava fields.

Djarin reunited with Karga and Dune, and the latter two chose to stay on Nevarro now that the Imperial forces there had been crippled. Karga offered Djarin a place in the Bounty Hunters' Guild again, but the Mandalorian prioritized his new mission to reunite Grogu with the Jedi. Djarin thus parted with his new foundling, and returned to the Razor Crest. The Mandalorian buried Kuiil before departing Nevarro aboard his gunship. In the meantime, Gideon's crashed Outland TIE fighter caught the attention of some Jawa scavengers. While the scavengers picked apart the wreckage, however, Gideon, who had survived the crash, cut his way out of the cockpit with the darksaber, a lightsaber used to stake claim to the Mandalorian throne, and returned to his remnant.

Djarin begun his quest to return Grogu to the Jedi, seeking out other Mandalorians to help him. He found ex-Mand'alor Bo-Katan Kryze, who he assisted in a mission in return for information on finding a Jedi. Kryze subsequently informed him of the former Jedi Ahsoka Tano, who was present on the planet Corvus. Before Djarin reached Corvus, though, he stopped at Nevarro, where Karga and Dune had reorganized Nevarro city following the end of the brief Imperial occupation. The Mandalorian helped the pair destroy an Imperial base on the planet to end the Imperial presence on Nevarro entirely. After, Djarin traveled to Corvus and found Tano, who refused to take in Grogu but advised the Mandalorian to take the foundling to the planet Tython and place the infant on the seeing stone to choose his own path.

Djarin did as Tano said, but was interrupted by two separate groups: the bounty hunter Boba Fett and assassin Fennec Shand, and Gideon and his forces. Gideon's forces captured Grogu and destroyed the Razor Crest. To rescue his foundling, Djarin teamed with Fett, Shand and Dune and located Gideon's light cruiser with the help of ex-Imperial Migs Mayfeld. Joining forces with Kryze and fellow Mandalorian Koska Reeves, the group was able to infiltrate the light cruiser and rescue Grogu. They found assistance from the Jedi Luke Skywalker, who had heard Grogu's call from the seeing stone and took the foundling with him, completing Djarin's mission.

The skirmish first appeared "Chapter 7: The Reckoning" of Jon Favreau's Disney+ series the The Mandalorian, which was directed by Deborah Chow and released on December 18, 2019. Footage of the skirmish was initially featured in the first official trailer for The Mandalorian,published on YouTube on August 23, 2019.

The scenes involving the common house and the area outside of it were filmed in a train yard in Los Angeles, while some other scenes were shot using a practical set surrounded by a 360-degree LED screen, a set known as "The Volume." Backdrops were shown on the screen in real time during filming to provide the illusion of a physical environment. For the sequences, Favreau aimed to provide fan service creatively, implementing the Imperial troop transport as a nod to the Kenner Toy commercial with the same model in 1979 as well as the Incinerator stormtrooper as a reference to the 2008 game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

When capturing the landing of Gideon's Outland TIE fighter, the wings were discluded from the physical model and added later with CG. Due to a shortage of stormtrooper costumes, a large number of the 501st Legion—a fan-based costuming group which included members donning stormtrooper costumes of their own making—were called upon. The invited members of the fan group were informed that they were going to a high-profile event and were oblivious as to the true nature of the event until they arrived on set.

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