‘Mandalorian’ Season 3: What you need to know
If you watch Disney+’s “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian” but didn’t watch “The Book of Boba Fett,” you may be a little confused by the trailer for “Mandalorian” Season 3.
We see everyone’s favorite helmetwearing hero, The Mandalorian, aka Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), fighting, racing through the galaxy and intoning “this is the way,” as you might expect. But there are a few surprises, such as the appearances of Grogu ( Baby Yoda), a new starship and talk of “transgressions.”
This might be confusing for some “Mandalorian” fans, considering that in the December 2020 Season 2 finale, Mando and Grogu parted ways — seemingly for good — as the tiny green guy headed off with Luke Skywalker (a digitally de-aged Mark Hamill). Mando’s ship the Razor Crest also was destroyed by his Imperial enemies, and he has never talked about atonement.
So how can so much have happened between Season 2 and Season 3 (premieres March 1 on Disney+)? Well, it all happened on a different show: “The Book of Boba Fett,” which streamed in 2022. Before you watch “Mandalorian” Season 3, here’s what you need to know.
How did Grogu and the Mandalorian reunite?
In the middle of “Boba Fett,” we get a look at Grogu training to use the Force with Luke and Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson). But the little guy isn’t taking to the training. He eventually decides to leave Luke, and the Jedi life of no attachments, and hitches a ride back to Tatooine, where the Mandalorian is helping Boba fight a crime syndicate. Father figure and Baby Yoda are reunited.
The new ship looks familiar
Before he reunited with Grogu, Mando visited his old friend Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris) and the pair refurbishes an old Naboo Starfighter, the design of which “Star Wars” fans may remember from the prequel films. The new ship replaces the Razor Crest that the Mandalorian lost fighting Imperial officer Moff Gideon
(Giancarlo Esposito) at the end of Season 2.
What does the Mandalorian have to atone for?
In “Boba Fett,” Mando was able to find the Armorer (Emily Swallow), another Mandalorian who shares his views about the Way. While visiting her, she reforges the beskar metal spear Mando acquired in Season 2 as a tiny chain mail suit for Grogu. The Mandalorian wins a fight with another Mandalorian for control of the Darksaber, the mythical weapon whose holder can lay claim to the throne of Mandalore, the Mandalorian home world that largely was destroyed by the Empire. But the Armorer asks him an important question: Has he ever removed his helmet?
He has, on multiple occasions, mostly to save or bond with Grogu. But this is a cardinal sin for a Mandalorian, and the Armorer banishes him. The only way for him to fix his grave error is to go back to the ruined Mandalore. And based on the Season 3 trailer, it seems as if Mando and Grogu are on their way there.
Which episodes of ‘Boba Fett’ should I watch?
Like many Disney shows and movies, the “Star Wars” series operate in a shared universe, and Disney+ was hoping “Mandalorian” fans would tune in to “Boba Fett.” Episodes 5 and 6 essentially are devoted to Grogu and Mando, who also are featured in Episode 7. You don’t need to know much about what’s going on in the rest of the “Boba Fett” season. You can stream all of them on Disney+.