While we are still just under a year away from the first ever live-action Star Wars TV show, it’s coming together very nicely for Disney, Lucasfilm and showrunner / executive producer Jon Favreau. Each piece of this highly sensitive (in the aspect of fans) puzzle has fit perfectly since its announcement, with another perfect piece being added over the holiday weekend. As a Christmas gift to Star Wars and just television fans in general, Favreau himself posted a photo to his personal Instagram that blew up the Star Wars fan base with an announcement of a long-wanted inclusion of a fan favorite bounty hunter.

Rumors and speculation have been running crazy over the last number of weeks of which popular Star Wars characters could appear in the first season of The Mandalorian. With the series following Pedro Pascal’s “long gunfighter,” who we all believe has strong connections to the bounty hunter ways of the Mandalorian’s, fellow bounty hunters are obviously at the top of the list. Thanks to Favreau, we now have at least one part of that question answered! Longtime favorite bounty hunter droid IG-88 will be showing up at some point in the series, with Favreau’s photo giving us an up-close and personal look at the practical effect of the character. And as a hardcore fan myself, it looks badass.

No other details revolving around the character have been revealed, but to be honest, all we need to know is that IG-88 is showing up and it’ll no doubt be glorious. What’s most interesting about this photo is that it is a practical effect. As we all know, Favreau has recently been the man behind the Oscar-worthy visual effects in both The Jungle Book and next year’s The Lion King, but through photos so far we’ve come to learn that Favreau’s experience on this set is much more hands on with real props and sets. With it being Star Wars, that’s exactly what we want to be hearing and seeing.

If you’re wondering why I keep referencing “fan favorite” or “popular” character in IG-88, that’s because the character was part of the bounty hunter group hired by Darth Vader to hunt down Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back. That specific group, which also included Bossk, Dengar and of course, Boba Fett, app became hugely popular characters in the years that followed thanks to outside stories told in what is now called “Legends.” My bet is that Bossk and Dengar will show up at some point as well, which will be followed by my head exploding, but for now, I get to have fun in discussing just how IG-88 will appear and what kind of scary murderous robotic action he/it will bring with him/it.

What do you think of this news? If you are a Star Wars junky, does the inclusion of IG-88 get you more excited than ever? If you aren’t, are you interested in finding out more about a droid bounty hunter? Are you excited for The Mandalorian? Is Star Wars only movies for you or are you open to television as well? The Mandalorian is currently in production and set to be released on Disney+ next fall when the service launches.