The Mandalorian season 2 premiere contains a major connection to A New Hope. Disney+ is currently streaming the first episode, with episode 2 arriving next Friday. The first episode of season 2 is nearly an hour long and it finds Din Djarin back on Tatooine with the Child as they search for another Mandalorian. Tatooine is a major destination in the Star Wars universe, mainly because it's the homeland of Anakin and Luke Skywalker. There are SPOILERS for The Mandalorian season 2 below.
When C-3PO and R2-D2 first arrive on Tatooine in A New Hope, the large skeleton of a snake-like creature can be seen in the background. Star Wars fans later found out that this was the skeleton of a Krayt Dragon, and one of them is featured alive in The Mandalorian's season 2 opener as the villain of the episode. It came as a shock to hardcore fans, and confused others who were not well-versed in the Krayt Dragon's history within the franchise, both in official canon and Legends.
The 1996 game the Star Wars: Customizable Card Game features a few Krayt Dragon cards, with one of them titled "Krayt Dragon Howl," which is a reference to Obi-Wan's shout that scares off the Tusken Raiders in A New Hope. As it turns out, the Jedi Master was mimicking the sound of a Krayt Dragon, a fact that was mentioned in the novelization for A New Hope. Now, Star Wars fans understand why the Tusken Raiders were so scared of that shout from Obi-Wan Kenobi, as they did not want to see a Krayt Dragon appear. This shows just how far Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are going to satisfy new and old fans.
The Wild West-style season 2 opener of The Mandalorian goes a long way in humanizing the Tusken Raiders too. The raiders have a common enemy with Cobb Vanth's community in the Krayt Dragon, and they have to unite in order to take it down, even though they have fought against each other in the past. After they make their deal and work as a team to take down the Krayt Dragon, the Tusken Raiders start taking apart the insides of the massive dragon.
At the end of the episode, the Tusken Raiders pull out a Krayt Dragon pearl from the innards of the giant beast and they celebrate it. In the Star Wars universe, the pearls are incredibly valuable and can be used for lightsabers too. However, using a part of the Krayt Dragon pearl to set up a new lightsaber is rather difficult and takes a lot of time and effort. The pearl is featured in the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars: The Old Republic video games, along with new canon material, most notably the Heir to the Jedi book, and now The Mandalorian. The episode proves that Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are pulling from deep Star Wars lore to tell their new stories. You can head over to the official Disney+ website to stream The Mandalorian season 2.