With the unveiling of The Mandalorian season 3 trailer at Disney’s annual D23 showcase, we’ve officially received confirmation the wait is almost over. The bad news? In this case, “almost” entails another five months of thumb-twiddling and making do with fan edits of lacklustre spin-offs.
The Mandalorian season 3 trailer picks up immediately where the story left off in The Book of Boba Fett (which was really The Mandalorian season 2.5). For those of you who didn’t make time for it, all you need to know is that Din Djarin / the eponymous Mando (Pedro Pascal) has reunited with Grogu / The Child / Baby Yoda at the cost of the latter’s Jedi training under the legendary Luke Skywalker (de-aged Mark Hamill & Graham Hamilton).
Din Djarin has also since been excommunicated from his tribe for removing his helmet, thereby breaking their sacred code. But that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be left stranded without any community.
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“We established in The Book of Boba Fett that there was an opportunity for the Mandalorian to be redeemed, because he had transgressed against the Creed by removing his helmet,” said series creator Jon Favreau.
“And among his group of Mandalorians, that is something that’s not permitted. Now, we know that there are other groups of Mandalorians where they have different sets of rules.”
Favreau added: “In The Clone Wars, we saw with Dave [Filoni] and also with the character that I voiced that the Mandalorians are very different there. And so these different groups are coming together and we’re going to figure out… the Nexus point for all of those communities, of course, is their homeworld from which they’re exiled, which is Mandalore.”
Considering the footage previewed today heavily features Katee Sackhoff as Bo-Katan Kryze – who’s intent on reclaiming her fallen homeworld – as well as the unresolved matter of Din Djarin still being possession of the Darksaber – which technically makes him the rightful ruler of Mandalore – it’s safe to say we should expect sparks. Plenty of ’em
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“If he is stepping into a leadership position, he’s reluctant to do so,” revealed Pedro Pascal.
“I don’t think that there’s anything more interesting than a character being forced into discovering what they’re capable of, and who they are. That part has been really, really fun.”
“Also, from my point of view, there’s so many searchable ways to find the tonality of that. I just tried to achieve the subtleties of that kind of character development.”
Pedro Pascal and Katee Sackhoff have been re-joined by Giancarlo Esposito as Moff Gideon, Carl Weathers as Greef Kargas, Emily Swallow as The Armorer, Omid Abtahi as Dr Pershing, Amy Sedaris, while also welcoming the likes of Back To The Future star Christopher Lloyd and Tim Meadows in undisclosed roles
Although an exact release date for The Mandalorian season 3 has yet to be announced, Disney Plus has previously stated it’ll premiere sometime in February 2023 — check out the first trailer above.
Side note: not that anyone really asked for it, but… Babu Frik is back, baby.
