On Saturday morning, the Star Wars Celebration was opened with The Mandalorian panel, which going in, was clouded with a few questions as far as what they could potentially reveal. On paper, there wasn’t a lot that they could show us. Possibly a short teaser or a director reveal but nothing too significant. Instead, what what we got, was a teaser trailer that gave us storylines, new characters, and the blueprint on where the show is headed. 

The panel was kicked off with creators Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau reminiscing on The Mandalorian⁠—discussing what made it work, what was the intention behind the show and how the cast crew were all essential to the show’s success. Slowly but surely, the rest cast was progressively introduced on the stage including the Din Djarin’s body doubles, Lateef Crowder dos Santos and Brendan Wayne. A lot of love was shown to the Mando stunt doubles, as they are predominantly the character in the suit; while Pedro Pascal voices the character. Other cast members were brought out such as the legendary, Carl Weathers, who plays Greef Karga and Emily Swallow, who portrays the imposing character, The Armorer. As the rest of the supporting cast filled out the stage, the trailer was finally revealed to the anxious audience. 

The teaser gives us a lot. Plenty, of shots of former characters like Greef Karga and The Armorer but the biggest reveal was the season’s plot. In The Book of Boba Fett there was an entire episode dedicated to where we left Din Djarin’s journey. He wants to learn how to wield the Darksaber but is still reeling from giving away his child, Grogu. The longing for his son takes him to the inception of Luke’s temple, where Luke wants Grogu to be his first student. Mando shows up with a miniature Beskar chainmail armor to give to Grogu but leaves at the advice of Ahsoka. Luke realizes that Grogu may not want to be a Jedi so he gives him the choice to return to his father or stay with him and learn the ways of the force. Grogu goes back to Din and the father and son dynamic duo is back in action for the third season. Another key portion of this episode was The Armorer revealing that the only way to be forgiven for removing his helmet was to bathe in the living waters beneath the mines of Mandalore. 

The third season confirms that Din is headed back to Mandalore to be forgiven for his transgressions. We see Bo Katan (played by Katee Sackhoff) sitting on a throne confronting Din, which teases a potential conflict between the pair. Another key shot is a team of Mandalorians being deployed from a ship in battle formation, revealing that there may be another Mandalorian civil war in the works. The final shot is the ruins of the domed capital of city of Mandalore, Sundari.

This Mandalorian conflict for season three could be the biggest and most confident over-arcing plot in a Star Wars series so far. The Mandalorian always had a larger plot spanning through every episode in previous seasons, but there were still those one-off episodes where Din was diverted from his mission. This season seems to tease a build-up of episodes, where every one is leading to a full blown war. This is obviously a big win for Clone Wars fans who absolutely adored the Mandalorian arc on that show, and is considered to be one of the best arcs in all of Star Wars. The Mandalorians taking each other head on in battle, or even taking on another force, could be incredibly exciting in live-action. In “Chapter 3: The Sin” of the first season of the show, Deborah Chow showed us the potential excitement of seeing multiple Mandalorians in action. Leveling up that scale and action is another enticement for this upcoming season. 

One final brief moment of the trailer, that stood out was a shot of what could be a First Order Star Destroyer being constructed. Could we potentially see a glimpse into the creation of the First Order? This is clearly speculation on my part, but it would be a great tie-in with the Sequel Trilogy which isn’t too far off from this show’s timeline.  

Regardless, season three of The Mandalorian appears to be the most exciting yet; with Mandalorian battles, culture clashes and conflicts that could test our love of certain beloved characters. Showing the gray of the Star Wars universe is something this show has always done well, but doing it on larger scale could make this upcoming season even more of a must watch. Ultimately, the teaser demonstrates a show fully confident in what it is. The first season of the series took a bit to find its footing and The Book of Boba Fett seemed to take awhile to know what it was; but this new Mando season is going full steam ahead on Mandalorian friction between two of our favorite Mandalorians. The anticipation for this new season just got bigger. We’ll wait to see how the show delivers. 

Published by Andres Cabrera

View all posts by Andres Cabrera