What I find fun about The Mandalorian is how it builds story out of very small things from the Star Wars universe that you don’t even have to know. Like the 1st episode of season 2 when they fight the Krayt dragon. That’s a reference all the way back to the first movie and the skeleton the droids wander past on Tatooine. You don’t have to know what it is to enjoy the episode, but if you do (or you look up recaps like I do) it just adds a little something.
Meanwhile they tell good stories.
Not just the original movie. The MMORPG Star Wars Galaxy had a multiplayer quest to kill a krayt and the quest start point was almost a mirror image of the canyon and cave in the episode.