space critters

The Mandalorian’s Most Fantastical Creatures, Ranked

Plazir-15 may be the most critter-happy planet we visited this season. Photo: LucasFilm

Spoilers for The Mandalorian season three ahead, if you care. 

Search your feelings, you know it to be true: The Mandalorian season three was just okay, maybe aggressively so. It is a tough gig to be the next Star Wars premiere after the brilliance of Andor, but Jon Favreau’s Disney+ darling still had its hallmarks of jetpacks and cute creatures — there just wasn’t as much of them, as Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal, partly) and Grogu (Grogu) took the backseat to Bo-Katan’s (Katee Sackhoff) retaking of Mandalore. Despite this, there were plenty of critters to be found as the trio bounced from planet to planet, including familiar haunts like Nevarro and Mandalore, and new locales, like Lizzo and Jack Black’s outer-rim palace — so many that we just had to lay all the space animals out in a ranking.

Now, since the Star Wars universe is vast with aliens and creatures, we’ve decided to only rank the non-sentient races, meaning Babu Frik’s Anzellan brethren do not count. (That also, unfortunately, includes the mossy Chia Pet pirate Gorian Shard and the tentacle-sucking lovers in episode six, too.) We tried our best to name these creatures, which aren’t exactly billed in the credits, but they are occasionally named in the descriptive audio. Justice for the creatures!

11. Winged Alligator (Chapter 18)

Photo: LucasFilm

This winged alligator on Mandalore tries to attack Grogu as he quickly scurries into Din’s ship, which gives this alligator an automatic last place spot! He’s not cute and even worse, he fails immediately. Grogu didn’t even use the force, he just closed the door to the ship on the gator. Embarrassing!

10. Lizzo and Jack Black’s Dinner Creatures (Chapter 22)

I lumped together the menagerie of mini, multicolor creatures flying around Lizzo and Jack Black (I refuse to learn their Star Wars names) inside the couple’s lavish dining hall. The tiny creatures range from pseudo-ceiling fans to adorable table knickknacks — though, would you want them around your food? — but ultimately they’re just decorations on Plazir-15, nothing more.

9. Reptavian Mother (Chapter 20)

Photo: LucasFilm

She came, she committed a crime (kidnapping), and she died.

8. Reptavian Babies (Chapter 20)

Photo: LucasFilm

The babies would possibly rank higher if the show followed through on them becoming actual Mandalorian foundlings — imagine them training by Grogu’s side! — or if they didn’t look like a bug-eyed sphynx cat. Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni probably didn’t want to tackle the icky implications of a Mandalorian cult killing their mother and indoctrinating them into their group. Hm, now I’m thinking about a spinoff where these baby reptavians grow up and seek revenge on the Mandalorians. Though, their mother’s murderer is already dead, so RIP. Moving on!

7. Pill Bug (Chapter 22)

Photo: LucasFilm

Not to pit the girls against each other, but the croquet-pill bug is the less-cute offshoot of Alice in Wonderland’s croquet hedgehog, though I’m sure some may disagree. The croquet on Plazir-15 does look less deadly than in Wonderland, but nonetheless, you lose that exquisite scenery of the beautifully trimmed rose bushes and flamingo mallets. I do love the mechanics of throwing the pill bug, though. Kudos to Lizzo, and points for that creativity!

6. Dinosaur Turtle (Chapter 17)

Photo: LucasFilm

This creature is the only one on this list to chomp on a Mandalorian like its cousin, the T. Rex from Jurassic Park. The timing of her attack on the Mandalorians who found refuge by her turf is simply hilarious. No one provoked her, yet she sprang out of the water hell-bent like she was the Bride from Kill Bill. Despite this inexplicable aggression, her death though was really uncalled for. It was gnarly, too. Chunks everywhere!

5. Secretion Creature (Chapter 22)

Photo: LucasFilm

Plazir-15 is full of rich freaks, which brings us to the secretion creature. This little green slime ball is being harvested for its juices, which space royals and generals apparently love to drink! Secretion creature doesn’t have the cuteness factor, but the way everyone’s enthusiastically slurping down his slime, I imagine his goo is the espresso martinis of a galaxy far, far away, so maybe it’s worth a sip.

4. Stone Crabs (Chapter 20)

Photo: LucasFilm

Simple yet greatly amusing, the stone crabs are just here to have a good time. They don’t bother anyone! The stone crabs are a precious species, the Marcel the Shells of space. Honestly, give them a guest role on Andor and take them to the beaches of Niamos. Even Grogu is fascinated by them enough to not immediately eat them.

3. Purrgils (Chapter 17)

Photo: LucasFilm

A majestic creature, it’s hard to properly rank purrgils when they’re the reason hyperspace travel exists. They’re simply the “It” girls of a galaxy far, far away, even though most Mandalorian viewers probably wouldn’t know it if they hadn’t watched Star Wars: Rebels. The purrgils’ shrouded tease with Grogu was adorable, but it was just that, a tease. As soon as we can get the purrgils in full live-action view, they’ll shoot up to the top of this list. Maybe in Ahsoka?

2. Mythosaur (Chapters 18 and 24)

Photo: LucasFilm

It lives! The Mythosaur provided one of the coolest reveals of the whole season when Bo-Katan caught a glimpse of the mythical beast in the waters of Mandalore. The season even ended with a look at the precious wide eyes of the massive Mythosaur (almost makes you forget what a formidable creature they are), so more of her is definitely coming. Wouldn’t it be cool if The Mandalorian ends with Pascal and Grogu riding the hailed creature, if he ever gets back in the suit.

1. Trinitaur (Chapter 23)

Photo: LucasFilm

It’s about time the Mandalorians got a taste of their own medicine. They bounce from planet to planet killing the area’s native creatures, but the Mandalore trinitaur dished out some pain by dramatically death-dropping onto the group’s ship at sea. Sure, maybe doing that while the Mandos were out trying to reclaim their homeland wasn’t ideal timing, but it’s her home too! I almost thought she was a Mythosaur at first, that’s how large and majestic she is. Now, I may use this term too lightly sometimes, but I mean it here: Despite her 30 seconds of screen time, she’s iconic.

The Mandalorian’s Most Fantastical Creatures, Ranked