Chapter 5: The Gunslinger

"Chapter 5: The Gunslinger" is the fifth episode of the first season of the American streaming television series The Mandalorian. It was written and directed by executive producer Dave Filoni. The episode takes place in the Star Wars universe five years after the events of Return of the Jedi (1983). In the episode, the Mandalorian and the Child are forced to land in Mos Eisley to get the Razor Crest repaired after a dogfight. He teams up with an inexperienced bounty hunter to capture mercenary Fennec Shand, in order to get enough money to pay for the repair of the damaged ship.

It stars Pedro Pascal as the Mandalorian, while the Child is created through animatronics and puppetry augmented with visual effects. The episode also features co-stars Amy Sedaris, Ming-Na Wen, and Jake Cannavale. Favreau was hired to be the showrunner of the series in March 2018, while Filoni joined the series to direct two episodes for the season in October. Favreau and Filoni are also the executive producers of the series alongside Kathleen Kennedy and Colin Wilson.

"Chapter 5: The Gunslinger" was released on the streaming service Disney+ on December 6, 2019. The episode received generally positive reviews, with praise towards the visuals and the performances (particularly Sedaris), but criticism for its pacing and lack of main narrative course.

The Mandalorian defeats a pursuing bounty hunter in a dogfight, but the Razor Crest is damaged, and he lands at a repair facility run by Peli Motto in Mos Eisley on Tatooine. While seeking work to pay for the repairs in a local cantina, he meets Toro Calican, an inexperienced hired gun looking to join the bounty hunters' guild by capturing Fennec Shand, a famed assassin. Despite misgivings, the Mandalorian agrees to let Calican take credit for Shand's capture so long as the repairs are paid for. Peli, meanwhile, has come across "the Child" and begins to take care of it while working on the ship, growing fond of it.

The Mandalorian and Calican travel into the Dune Sea on speeder bikes, looking for Shand. They come upon a traveling band of Tusken Raiders; the Mandalorian barters with them by trading Calican's brand new binoculars for passage. They eventually come across a Dewback with a dead bounty hunter attached to it, which turns out to be bait laid out by Shand to attract anyone looking for her. The duo manages to evade her sniper fire and capture her, but one of the speeders is destroyed in the process.

The Mandalorian goes to fetch the Dewback to replace the destroyed speeder, while Calican watches Shand. She tries to manipulate him by revealing that the Guild's bounties on the Mandalorian and the Child are worth a great deal more than her own. Calican is unconcerned with the bounty, but Shand replies that taking out the Mandalorian would make him a legend. She offers to help Calican capture the Mandalorian if he frees her; instead, Calican shoots her. Leaving the body where it fell, he returns to the spaceport and kidnaps Motto and the Child for his own trap. The Mandalorian arrives, uses a flash grenade to stun Calican, and shoots him dead. The Mandalorian then gives Calican's money to Motto to pay for the repairs on his ship and he leaves Tatooine. Out in the desert, a mysterious figure is seen approaching Shand's body.

Lucasfilm and Disney announced the development of a new live action Star Wars series that would be released for their streaming service Disney+ in November 2017. The series would be focused in the Mandalorians exploring the "scum and villainy" of the Star Wars universe taking place five years the events of the film Return of the Jedi (1983). The series would later reveal its official title The Mandalorian alongside the official premise. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy saw the opportunity of the series to allow a diverse group of writers and directors to create their own Star Wars stories. In March 2018, John Favreau was hired by Lucasfilm to be the head writer of the series, while Dave Filoni was announced to direct two episodes for the series by October, who also serves as the writer of the episode. Favreau and Filoni executive produce the series, alongside Kennedy and Colin Wilson. The first season's fifth episode titled "Chapter 5: The Gunslinger", was released on Disney+ on December 6, 2019.

The episode shows the Mandalorian still struggling to take care of the child, as Filoni considered that the character still was not fulfilling the role of a father, causing a discussion with another character about how to care for a child. Filoni took inspiration for Clint Eastwood's western film, Unforgiven (1992) for the development of the episode's story. For the episode, the Mandalorian cross paths with a younger and inexperienced but feckless and arrogant bounty hunter named Toro Calican. The character of Toro is inspired by "Schofield Kid", who both seek to become experienced bounty hunters. For the episode, Filoni reuses an old trope used in the western films where the old and now retired gunslinger reluctantly teams up with a younger one who is hungry for power but does not have the experience that they require, with the Mandalorian and the Gunslinger taking the roles respectively.