5 burning questions about The Mandalorian season 3 - Polygon

The Mandalorian season 2 finale was both an exhilarating snowball of the past eight episodes’ many storylines and a minor betrayal of everything we loved about the show. What can we say, we love Mando and Grogu. But whatever we thought of the last 10 minutes, there’s no argument: the season was top-notch. So, naturally, we’ll spend the next year (or more?) thinking about what’s in store for The Mandalorian season 3.

While those final scenes were jaw-dropping TV, the finale raised a number of questions that could either be picked up down the line or hand-waved away. (“These are not the plot threads you’re looking for.”) Here’s what’s still buzzing in our brains, knowing what we know about what happens to Din Djarin, Grogu, and the rest of The Mandalorian side characters.

[Ed. note: This story contains major spoilers for every episode of The Mandalorian]

Is Baby Yoda still in the show?

Luke Skywalker in black robes carries Grogu out of the Imperial ship in The Mandalorian

At the end of season 2, none other than Luke Skywalker (OK, a CGI copy of him) carried Grogu out the door, with the intention of training the young Force-wielder. But there’s no telling whether or not “The Child” will come back. The Mandalorian is fundamentally a show about Din Djarin and Grogu and while all the other characters are special and interesting and exciting, those two are its heart and soul so it’s awfully hard to imagine the show cutting Baby Yoda out entirely. T

hat being said, a season with the two apart isn’t entirely out of the cards and a tearful reunion would make for a nice moment in season 4. Also keep in mind that the reemerging Empire has his blood and has clone scientists working in the background, so it seems like a version of Baby Yoda would return one way or another. Unless we time jump and get ... Teen Grogu?

Will Din join his fellow Mandalorians and take back Mandalore?

So what would The Mandalorian season 3 be about if it isn’t about an adorable green puppet? Well, Mandalorians of course. We’ve certainly got all the makings of a Mandalorian squad hellbent on taking their planet back. Bo-Katan could lead the charge followed by Koska Reeves, Din Djarin and maybe even the first live-action appearance of Sabine Wren. It doesn’t seem likely that Boba Fett would join them — since he’s both a clone and also running his own crime syndicate or whatever now — but maybe he could pop in for an episode or two.

This may not be quite as cute as a stoic, helmet-clad warrior learning to be a father, but letting The Mandalorian’s try to take back their homeworld would be extremely exciting. And it would certainly fit the show and its title. On top of all that, it also gets all those characters out of the way for series like Rangers of the New Republic and Ahsoka, which will be happening in the same time period that Mando’s already set.

Is Mando keeping the Darksaber?

Din Djarin, Fennec Shand, Koska Reeves, Bo-Katan, and Cara Dune stand on the bridge of an Imperial ship in The Mandalorian

Lost among the absolute chaos that was final moments of the season 2 finale was an important topic of conversation that never quite got settled: Who gets the Darksaber?

If Din Djarin keeps the Darksaber, he would will rule Mandalore. That could be a compelling arc, and one with a lot of strife. While his status might help legitimize foundlings among natural-born Manadlorians they likely won’t accept him as their ruler — after all, they’ve had a pretty bad run of non-native rulers.

If Din gives up the saber ... how will it happen? Are we going to get a Din vs. Bo-Katan fight next season?

Is scary-CGI Luke just gonna show up in random series from now on?

Full-character CGI has come a really long way since Rogue One recreated Peter Cushing’s Grand Moff Tarkin. Full-character CGI also has a very long way to go before it isn’t extremely distracting to look at. While seeing Luke whirl his lightsaber through Dark Troopers like they were nothing was certainly exciting, the uncanny CGI de-aged version of the character had no soul and certainly had a hard time convincing us that he cared for Grogu.

If they’re going to put Luke in more of the Star Wars spinoff shows from this era, a thing they definitely shouldn’t do, then at least have the decency to recast him. Sacrilege? All I’ll say is that Charles Dance should have played Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One — I do not care that Charles Dance doesn’t look like Peter Cushing, he would have been great.

When will The Mandalorian season 3 actually premiere?

Not only did the season 2 finale end with Din and Grogu going their separate ways, but the post-credit stringer promised a new entry into the Disney Plus Star Wars line-up, The Book of Boba Fett, for December 2021. Is it a replacement for a new season of The Mandalorian or will we get both next year?

There are in-universe reasons why the show may take a break. At the moment there’s no real direction for Din Djarin’s story and Baby Yoda’s story makes perfect sense, so it seems like that Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni might wait for a little movement in the universe before they bring Mando back.

The out-of-universe reasons for a delay seem obvious: Disney doesn’t need the show right away. At least not in the way it used to. Mando is no longer the only Star Wars show on the docket, in fact it’s just one of at least 10 other series with the greenlight. That means that the series can take an extended break of a year or two, HBO style, without being missed too much. There’s also the fact that Din seems to be taking his helmet off more often now, which means they’ll need Pedro Pascal on set more than he used to be (which seemed basically like never).

Rumors suggest that The Book of Boba Fett could be a mini-series or TV movie that either precedes or caps The Mandalorian season 3, meaning the 2021 holiday season could see us with a double dose of Star Wars live-action storytelling. But we won’t be surprised if the show takes an extended break to figure out what’s next either.

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