Why The Mandalorian's Coruscant Isn't The Capital Of The New Republic

This post contains spoilers for the latest episode of "The Mandalorian."

Throughout the first six films of the "Star Wars" saga, Coruscant was the glittering jewel of the galaxy and center of all life and politics. As the home of the galactic senate, it housed the centralized government of the Republic and the headquarters of the Jedi.

In the latest episode of "The Mandalorian," we're reminded of its importance, but it's easy to forget that it's no longer the center of the galaxy it once was. For over a thousand years, it served as the capital, but the circumstances of the fall of the Empire and the rise of the New Republic made its return to a capital center an impossibility.

Detailing the formation of the New Republic in his "Aftermath" books, Chuck Wendig gave us a window into Mon Mothma's thought process. There were two things at play: first, Coruscant was still in Imperial hands when the New Republic was formed and they would need an interim capital. Second, she wanted to create a government that was seen as much more egalitarian. She strove to assure the galaxy that the corrupt, entrenched power structures of Coruscant were viewed as a thing of the past, so she conceived of a rotating capital. This started with her home planet of Chandrila and moved, eventually, to Hosnian Prime, which we saw in "The Force Awakens."

That's why we won't see Mon Mothma or any galactic politics we might have expected on Coruscant. They're all happening on the planet of Chandrila. Might we see that in future episodes or shows? Anything is possible. But the thing we do know for sure is that we won't have it in parallel with Dr. Pershing's story in the New Republic Amnesty program.

Rumors have swirled about the real reason Hosnian Prime was destroyed in "The Force Awakens" instead of Coruscant — rumors that suggest Lucasfilm and the story group didn't want to blow up such an important and populated planet in the history of "Star Wars," offering up an alternative for JJ Abrams.

Then, it was left to writers like Chuck Wendig to figure out how to make that capital make sense in the context of the story of the galaxy. In the "Aftermath" books, we learn that though the Emperor had fallen, Mas Amedda — Palpatine's Grand Vizier dating back to "The Phantom Menace" — still held on to the power of the Empire. It wasn't until a year or so after the destruction of the Second Death Star, in the general vicinity of the Empire's loss at the Battle of Jakku, that Mass Amedda formaly signed an instrument of surrender to the New Republic. In order to establish the New Republic at that time, Mon Mothma turned to her own home planet to start this nascent government, transitioning from rebelling to governing.

It's a fascinating thing to think about how you conduct the government and business of a galaxy from scratch, and as we can see in "The Mandalorian," the New Republic certainly has its own growing pains.

"Star Wars: The Mandalorian" is streaming only on Disney+. New episodes come every Wednesday.