Spoiler warning! If you’ve not seen the first episode of the new season of The Mandalorian, stop reading now, and go watch it.
With the return of The Mandalorian, we got something to hunt for new alien species again. In the first episode of the second season, titled “Chapter 9: The Marshal“, we find several new and familiar faces. Below is a rundown of what I’ve noticed. Let me know if you found more! As with the Season 1 Compendium, which is still in “preliminary” status, I hope we find out more about the new species in the upcoming The Mandalorian: The Ultimate Visual Guide (scheduled for July 2021). Up until that point, I’ll continue numbering the new aliens using my own system (in Season 1 we identified 13 new and unnamed aliens).
First up, when Din Djarin and the Child visit a new, yet unnamed world, they are shadowed by creatures with red glowing eyes, who seem afraid for the light (you’ll see that later in the episode).
The Mandalorian has come here to visit Gor Koresh, who has a Twi’lek doorman guarding his fight club. Inside, there’s a fight going between two Gamorreans, who make their first appearance on the show (and had already been revealed before).
Gor Koresh is an Abyssin. This one-eyed species goes all the way back to A New Hope, where we see one Abyssin named Myo in the Mos Eisley Cantina.
The crowd has some familiar faces, such as the unnamed species “Solo sp. #11“, who we know from the character Regineer Teed, one of the Cloud-Riders from Solo, A Star Wars Story.
A humanoid man with spikes coming from his cheek and brow and pointy ears belongs to a new species (Mando sp. #14). He is sitting next to Mennis Duren’s species from Rogue One (RO sp. #01).
In the other corner of the room is one of the unnamed species we saw in Maz’s castle in The Force Awakens (TFA sp. #12). After that, we see another species from the Cloud-Riders, again with no name (Solo sp. #12). We also saw the same species before in season 1, on the streets of Nevarro. Also seen is a Kyuzo. This is one of the character costumes seen before as the deputies of Constable Zuvio (Streehn or Drego), and their face is covered by bandages.
Two more new aliens are clearly seen during the fight as well. One of them is a blue and white-skinned female with no visible ears (Mando sp. #15), the other is a green-skinned male with tendrils hanging on his face (Mando sp. #16).
When the fight moves outside of the central arena, and everyone starts panicking and running for the exit we spot a few familiar faces. Among the crowd is a Caskadag and a Hassk (The Force Awakens), as well as a Mimbanese (Solo). I’ve pointed them out below.
Also in the stands are two more new species (or at least I’m assuming their are supposed to be aliens). One’s a greenish/yellowish-skinned bald man (Mando sp. #17), the other a pale blue being with white hair (Mando sp. #18). Also seen in the same shot is a Dybrinthe (The Force Awakens).
Din gets up close with a Zabrak and a humanoid with horns on his chin (Mando sp. #19). I really hope the Ultimate Visual Guide gives us a better look at all these background aliens, and provides some names.
On Tatooine, it’s mostly familiar faces we see, but there’s some better looks at two species we haven’t yet seen if clear detail onscreen. First up is the Scurrier, which were first created for the Special Edition release of Episode IV.
The proprietor of a small bar in Mos Pelgo is a Weequay. The mask is really nice and detailed, and we get some good close-up shots of this guy (who has no name yet).
When Cobb Vanth (yes, from the Aftermath trilogy) recounts his story, we see more Jawas, but this time they wear no gloves! They have stuby fingers, grey skin and grey fur. You can see it best when they start grabbing the silicax crystals. Love these kind of details.
In one of the many ravines of Tatooine, Din and Cobb run into a pack of Massiff, creatures we first saw in Attack of the Clones (both on Geonosis and on Tatooine). Like in Episode II, these Massiff are the company of a band of Tusken Raiders. And where there’s Tusken, there must be Banthas. Nice detail, they do ride single-file.
Last but not least, finally in all its glory, is the great Krayt Dragon! We’ve only really ever seen one as a skeleton in the Dune Sea, but many books in the Expanded Universe gave us depictions of these top predators. It is a massive beast, living under the sands of Tatooine, only coming out of his cave to hunt. The background provided by the Tusken is a nice nod to the “The Knight & the Dragon” story in Myths & Fables.
And, when the Tusken and the citizens of Mos Pelgo finally defeat the monster, they dig out their price, a Krayt Dragon pearl. These concretions, only found in the bellies of Krayt, were first described in Darksaber, a novel from 1995.
That’s it for now. Hope the next episode has some cool aliens in it as well. Stay tuned.
Alien Anthology 
Im really confused about this whole subspecies – species thing. Niktos and Gungans have always had subspecies, but Krayt Dragons, Rancors, Mustafarians, and Tauntans have been confusing. Ultimate Star Wars said the Canyon and Greater were different species, while the Absolutely Everything You Have to Know stated Mustafarians and Tauntans have different species not subspecies. Though the Wookiepedia simply puts them as subspecies. Is there any known distinctions, or is Star Wars just using these terms very loosely?
It’s the last option. The term subspecies (and things like “near-human”) has been used very loosely throughout the last decades of Star Wars books. Even in real-life biology, it’s a term that leaves a lot of room for different interpretations. Krayt Dragons have changed a lot in the years as well, I may write something about that one day.