The Mandalorian and its spinoff shows have brought back several characters and storylines from the Star Wars Legends universe, making it possible for The Mandalorian movie to reintroduce Luke Skywalker's wife in canon. Because Luke's arc in the Star Wars sequel trilogy was so different from his Legends counterpart, it seemed that making his wife canon was impossible and that her story would no longer work in the new continuity. However, the Star Wars TV shows have found ways to reintegrate Legends characters by adjusting their storylines, especially characters from the same books that introduced Luke's wife.
The Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn launched the modern Star Wars Expanded Universe (aka Legends) and became one of the franchise's most popular and influential stories. The Mandalorian movie is all set to adapt Grand Admiral Thrawn's story in canon, with multiple Star Wars stories setting up different aspects of the books. Rukh appeared in Star Wars Rebels season 4, Mount Tantiss was heavily featured in Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and the 2020 Darth Vader comic series by Greg Pak revealed that Palpatine had Luke's hand on Exegol. If Star Wars was bold enough to tease Luke's clone, then surely The Mandalorian movie can make his wife canon again.
Related: Everything We Know About The Mandalorian Star Wars Movie
Mara Jade debuted in 1991's Heir to the Empire, the first book of the Thrawn trilogy, and eventually became Luke's wife in Legends. If she was to be included in The Mandalorian movie, then the final major gap would be filled in Star Wars' canon Thrawn story. The Grand Admiral himself has already been set up, serving as the main villain in the second half of Star Wars Rebels and making his live-action debut in the upcoming Ahsoka TV series. This naturally makes Thrawn the perfect villain for The Mandalorian movie, and most of the necessary elements from the Thrawn trilogy have been set up as well.
Thrawn will have all of his closest allies in future Star Wars projects, including Imperial Captain Gilad Pellaeon, his second in command in Legends. The Mandalorian also set up the Empire's Force cloning through Moff Gideon, and with Mount Tantiss having been featured in The Bad Batch, Thrawn can carry out his original Legends plan to defeat the New Republic. Finally, Thrawn will have Balan Skoll as a Force-sensitive ally to replace Joruus C'Baoth from Legends, with some theories suggesting that the two characters are one and the same. That leaves Mara as the final piece of the canon Thrawn story puzzle.
Related: Star Wars Canon Is Finally Going To Solve Its Mara Jade Conundrum
It would be odd for Star Wars to incorporate so many significant parts of the Thrawn trilogy but not include Mara. She remains one of the most popular Star Wars Legends characters and would generate just as much hype as Thrawn, if not more so. Mara is a perfect foil for Luke, a potential student at his Jedi Academy, another smart way to connect to Palpatine in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, and an incredibly compelling character in her own right. Comparing the stories of characters from canon and Legends is also a fun way to experience familiar Star Wars tales that feel fresh at the same time.
Mara served as the Emperor's Hand in Legends, and while the title's meaning has changed slightly in canon, Star Wars has still set up the role for The Mandalorian movie. Gar Saxon was identified as the Emperor's Hand in Star Wars Rebels season 3, reintroducing the concept of Imperial agents that answer directly to Palpatine. This is somewhat different from Mara's role as the Emperor's Hand, carrying out missions so secret that most Imperials didn't even know she existed. However, the Starships and Speeders sourcebook featured a canon version of the Emperor's Hand closer to the secret operative style of Mara.
After Gar Saxon was killed, Palpatine may have found Mara and trained her as a secret assassin, explaining her absence in Star Wars canon so far. Darth Vader also used Inquisitors to hunt down Jedi and other Force users, so perhaps Mara was part of the Inquisitorius before becoming the Emperor's Hand. Being skilled at black ops would make her perfect for carrying out assassinations, and after Palpatine's apparent death, there would be no one left who knew of her existence. This is what happened to Mara in Legends, and this aspect of her story could still work in canon.
The only remaining question is how Mara would fit into the new version of Thrawn's story if she appeared in The Mandalorian movie. The most obvious solution is having her as an ally of Thrawn, either recruited to directly to his cause or having remained part of the Imperial Remnant since Return of the Jedi. This would make sense if Mara was a former Inquisitor, as Thrawn would want all the powerful allies he could get. Since Thrawn and Palpatine worked well together, the Emperor may have left instructions for her to serve the Grand Admiral should anything happen to him.
Alternatively, Mara could make her canon debut in the upcoming Skeleton Crew TV series. The show will shift the focus to incorporating smugglers in the underworld, which would be a perfect fit for Mara given her Legends history. She teamed up with Talon Karrde after the fall of the Empire, a smuggler and information broker who captured Luke and brought him and Mara face to face. Since The Mandalorian movie will bring all the live-action Star Wars show together, Mara would be the perfect way to tie the Skeleton Crew characters and the world of smuggling into Thrawn's story, even if her connection to Luke is a little more complicated.
Related: Star Wars: All The Potential Setup For Mara Jade
Although much of Mara's story can be translated to canon, it's clear that certain parts would need to be radically changed. The most obvious is her being Luke's wife, as there's currently no evidence that he was ever married in Star Wars canon. That's not to say that the two couldn't have some kind of romantic arc; perhaps they were married for a time, and it just wasn't relevant to the main plot of the sequel trilogy. Maybe Mara Jade will return as Luke Skywalker's life, or maybe Star Wars canon will take a different approach, but either way, it's entirely possible for her to appear in The Mandalorian movie.