Din and Grogu are about to find themselves in new hot water, as evidenced by The Mandalorian’s new season 3 trailer.
We’re just a month and a half away from The Mandalorian‘s third season debut, and a new trailer shows that the stakes are rising rapidly for Star Wars‘ favourite found family. Season 2 ended with Grogu headed off to train with Luke Skywalker, but as we saw in The Book of Boba Fett‘s interlude, father and son have been reunited, and Din has a heavy quest laid out for him.
The trailer shows Din (Pedro Pascal) moving with a group of individuals in mismatched suits of Mandalorian armour, while his narration muses on the nature of what it means to be a Mandalorian. He then reunites with Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) on the planet Nevarro, which has continued to develop rapidly under his off-screen leadership—who wouldn’t love their new streetlights made with repurposed Stormtrooper helmets?
As teased in The Book of Boba Fett, Din’s next step is to return to Mandalore, original home of the Mandalorian culture, so he may purify himself of his supposed transgressions—namely, removing his helmet within view of others. Previously the show has suggested that the sect which raised him is a more fanatical one, holding to stricter self-imposed strictures than most Mandalorians we’ve met in Star Wars before. Not only should this plot line be interesting on its own merits, we haven’t seen Mandalore in live action before, nor since its off-screen destruction, overseen by Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) after Emperor Palpatine’s death.
After a pit stop on Tattooine at Pelli Motto (Amy Sedaris)’ garage, we see glimpses of the enigmatic Doctor Pershing (Omid Abtahi) on a planet like Coruscant, mummified Mandalorian armour, a cryptic warning from Carson Teva (Canada’s own Paul Sun-Hyung Lee!), and perhaps a flashback to Grogu’s escape from the Jedi Temple during Order 66, if the lightsaber-wielding Jedi are any indication.
Imperial entanglements are also in store for The Mandalorian season 3, and it seems like that Din will end up scrapping with fellow Mandos, since his claim to the Darksaber could be contested by Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff). Whatever perils await, at least Grogu seems to have improved his Jedi game, given his act of self-defense in the trailer’s final scene.
Of course, The Mandalorian has been full of twists and surprises from day one, from the reveal of “Baby Yoda” at the end of the first episode to Luke Skywalker’s cameo via movie magic at the end of season two. The new footage looks exhilarating, but it’s surely only the tip of the iceberg.
In its third season, The Mandalorian‘s official leading cast consists of Pedro Pascal, Katee Sackhoff, Carl Weathers, Amy Sedaris, Emily Swallow and Giancarlo Esposito. It remains to be seen if Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen will reprise their roles as Boba Fett and Fennec Shand, but anything’s possible. At least we know of one cameo—former Saturday Night Live cast member Tim Meadows will have some kind of role, according to footage shown at Star Wars Celebration last May.
Directorial duties will be shared by returning helmsmen Weathers, Rick Famuyiwa, and Bryce Dallas Howard; Rachel Morrison, Lee Isaac Chung, and Peter Ramsey will helm episodes for the first time as well. No confirmation yet if the show’s showrunner/head writer Jon Favreau or executive producer Dave Filoni will direct at all this season; Favreau did, however, write the entire season, with help from Filoni on two episodes.
The Mandalorian‘s eight-episode third season will begin on March 1 on Disney+ with episodes streaming weekly (and coinciding with the last five episodes of The Bad Batch season 2). It will be followed later this year by Ahsoka, a spin-off of sorts helmed by Filoni and starring Rosario Dawson in the titular live-action role.
