It’s been over two years since the second season of The Mandalorian finished airing on Disney+. Now, Mando (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu, or, as the internet affectionally refers to him, Baby Yoda, are finally returning to continue their adventures in the outer reaches of the galaxy far, far away.
The Mandalorian season 3 will premiere on March 1 on Disney+ and run for eight episodes, with the season finale set for April 19. Each new episode will be available at 3 a.m. ET on the day of its release. And the show’s third season apparently won’t be its last.
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Creator Jon Favreau recently told BFM TV that he’s already written season 4 to ensure that The Mandalorian storyline continues to square with Ahsoka and other Star Wars series set to take place in the same time period. Favreau has also said that he doesn’t have a planned ending in mind for The Mandalorian, which began five years after the fall of the Empire in Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Around three years have passed in the galaxy since the series premiere.
“I think the beauty of this is that it’s a middle chapter of a much larger story,” he said on a recent episode of the Inside Total Film podcast. “And though we’ll have resolution over time with these characters…it’s not like there’s a finale that we’re building to that I have in mind.”
Here’s everything you need to know about the third season of The Mandalorian.
What to remember from season 2
In the season 2 finale, Mando, formally known as Din Djarin, rescued Grogu from Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito), the leader of the Imperial Remnant, and his Dark Troopers with the help of fellow Mandalorian warriors Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) and Koska Reeves (Mercedes Varnado), New Republic ranger Cara Dune (Gina Carano, who was fired by Lucasfilm and will not be returning), and bounty hunter Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen).
In the battle that ensued after the group infiltrated Gideon’s light cruiser, Mando defeated Gideon in a one-on-one duel that allowed him to inadvertently claim the Darksaber, an ancient black-bladed lightsaber that is believed to have the power to unite the fractured people of the Mandalorians’ home planet of Mandalore. Mando had promised the Darksaber to Bo-Katan, a previous ruler of Mandalore, only to learn that the blade must be won in combat for its owner to successfully wield it. This left Mando and Bo-Katan at somewhat of an impasse, but with Dark Troopers rallying to retake the ship, there was no time to resolve the issue.
Fortunately, that was the moment Luke Skywalker (a CGI de-aged version of Mark Hamill) decided to show up. After defeating the Dark Troopers, Luke told Mando that he had come in response to the Force call that Grogu had put out into the galaxy in a previous episode, and was willing to train Grogu in the ways of the Jedi. Going against the Way of the Mandalore, Mando removed his helmet to show his face to Grogu and say goodbye before Grogu went on his way with Luke and R2-D2.
What happened in The Book of Boba Fett
While there’s been a significant hiatus between seasons of The Mandalorian, both Mando and Grogu appeared in the back half of the first season of The Book of Boba Fett, which aired last winter.
We saw Mando pay a visit to the Armorer (Emily Swallow), the leader of the orthodox tribe of Mandalorian warriors Mando belongs to, and learn the history of the Darksaber. According to the Armorer, the Darksaber is believed to carry a curse that will lead to the destruction of Mandalore and its people if it’s wielded by someone who didn’t win it in combat. Mando also admitted to the Armorer that he had gone against their tribe’s creed by removing his helmet, and was told that he would need to travel to Mandalore and bathe in the living waters beneath the planet’s mines to earn redemption as a Mandalorian.
Meanwhile, Grogu was busy training with Luke on the planet of Ossus. But the bond Grogu had formed with Mando was holding him back from mastering the ways of the Jedi. After Mando showed up to gift Grogu with his very own beskar armor, Luke offered Grogu a choice between taking up Yoda’s lightsaber and committing to the Jedi path or returning to Mando’s side to become a Mandalorian. Grogu, of course, chose Mando and the two were reunited.
What’s in store for season 3
Given the events of The Book of Boba Fett, it seemed likely that Mando would soon be heading to Mandalore to regain his status as a Mandalorian. And in the latest season 3 trailer, he says as much: “I’m going to Mandalore, so that I may be forgiven for my transgressions.”
According to Favreau, that means we’re going to see the desolate wasteland the planet has become in the wake of the Great Purge of Mandalore that took place during the later years of the Empire’s galactic reign. “It’s sort of a tragic history that this planet has, but also a romantic vision of what once was,” Favreau told Inside Total Film podcast. “We wanted to show what happened and we make some allusions to the Purge of Mandalore; in The Book of Boba Fett we show a montage of the destruction. And now when we return to the planet we get to see in the stark sunlight what the aftermath of all of that destruction was.”
Conflict over possession of the Darksaber is also almost certain to ramp up, with the first season 3 trailer teasing an escalation of the tension between Mando and Bo-Katan. “Your cult fractured our people,” she tells him. “Where were you then?”
As for how Grogu’s Force training will come into play, Favreau has said that Grogu’s time with Luke allowed him to hone his abilities. “Thanks to The Book of Boba Fett, we’ve been able to have some time pass between the end of season 2 and the beginning of season 3,” he told Inside Total Film. “And so although he’s always had a lot of Force potential, it takes the training to bring it to a useful ability that he could engage when they find themselves in sticky situations.”
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