WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Mandalorian, "Chapter 11: The Heiress," streaming now on Disney+.
While a majority of the theories in The Mandalorian's first season (rightfully) centered on The Child, substantial speculation in Season 2 has focused on the identity of the character played by professional wrestler Sasha Banks. Could she be Sabine Wren, the fan-favorite Mandalorian from Star Wars Rebels? Or, given her dark cloak in the trailer, a former Imperial Inquisitor? What about one of the Sith cultists introduced in The Rise of Skywalker? It turns out she's none of those.
Credited as her real name, Mercedes Varnado, Banks makes her debut in this week's episode, "Chapter 11: The Heiress," as one of Bo-Katan's (Katee Sackhoff) small group of Mandalorian "pirates" who hijack Imperial freighters on the estuary moon of Trask. Although her character isn't named in the episode -- she barely speaks -- the IMDb entry lists her as Koska Reeves; Wookieepedia concurs. The third Mandalorian, portrayed by Simon Kassianides (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), is delightfully named Axe Woves.
So, while Banks isn't Sabine Wren, she is, at least, a Mandalorian. That's something, right? (Right?) And she does help save the Child from being eaten by a ravenous mamacore, which appears to be a new addition to the Star Wars bestiary.
In "The Heiress," which is a reference to Bo-Katan as the rightful ruler of Mandalore, Mando (Pedro Pascal) fulfills his promise to bring Frog Lady to the estuary moon of Trask. Her happy husband then points him to someone who can lead him to other Mandalorians. Unfortunately, however, it's not quite in the way Din Djarin might have imagined. Aboard a Quarren fishing boat, Mando is betrayed by the crew, who feed him and the Child to the aforementioned mamacore (which looks vaguely like an aquatic sarlacc, kept aboard for unknown reasons). That's when the Mandalorians arrive -- the first time, at least.
Although Din doesn't consider Bo-Katan, Koska and Axe to be true Mandalorians (after all, they remove their helmets), he learns a little more about his own sect -- "a cult of religious zealots that broke away from Mandalorian society" -- and joins them on their mission, in exchange for the location of a Jedi. What is that mission? To hijack an Imperial freighter loaded with weapons, set to leave Trask's black-market port at daylight -- to add to the arsenal that will, one day, be used to take back their home world, and place Bo-Katan on the throne. He agrees, and is rewarded with the location of Ahsoka Tano, whose appearance has been hotly anticipated.
Bo-Katan's questioning of the freighter's commander (Titus Welliver of Deadwood and Lost) about the Darksaber and the whereabouts of Moff Gideon suggest viewers haven't seen the last of her, or Koska Reeves, this season. Although IMDb isn't always trustworthy, Banks' entry lists her as returning in the next two episodes, which seems ... unlikely, considering "The Heiress" ends with the Mandalorian flying toward the forest planet Corvus to find Ahsoka.
Created by Jon Favreau, The Mandalorian stars Pedro Pascal, with guest stars Gina Carano, Carl Weathers and Giancarlo Esposito. Directors for the new season include Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rick Famuyiwa, Carl Weathers, Peyton Reed and Robert Rodriguez.