The idea of Imperial super commandos dates back to the very earliest concept work done for The Empire Strikes Back. Preliminary story explorations would have had a class of “super” stormtroopers, which resulted in all-white designs of what would become Boba Fett’s Mandalorian armor as the story evolved.
The first draft script for this episode originally had Sabine and Rau playing dejarik, but it was changed to be something more germane to Mandalorian culture. Based loosely on the Legends game cu’bikad from the Republic Commando novels, this game was joking called “stabble” by some on the production team.
The Phantom II has a large stylized tibidee graphic based on the original Phantom’s memorable encounter with one in Season One.
The Phantom II’s production nickname was Ghost Fighter C, representing the third iteration of the Phantom seen in the series. The 2nd one, Ghost Fighter B, was the modification to the original that accommodated Chopper in a droid socket.
The canyon for the jetpack chase is a retexturing of the Ryloth canyon seen earlier in the season. It now has a shallow river running through it, a new pillar that Sabine knocks over, and sparse trees along the surface.
The character of Gar Saxon was developed for The Clone Wars episodes that never entered into production, but were adapted into the comic series Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir.
The guest Mandalorian performers in this episode represent a reunion of two cast members from the HBO series Rome. Kevin McKidd (Fenn Rau) played Lucius Vorenus, while Ray Stevenson (Gar Saxon) played Titus Pullo.
