Finally, The Mandalorian Season 3 is here!!! The first episode drops today on Disney+ and it’s been a while since we last had the show in our lives — the Season 2 finale aired back in December of 2020.
Now as you probably remember, Season 2 ended with Din Djarin (along with Fennec Shand, Bo-Katan Kryze, Cara Dune, and Koska Reeves) rescuing Grogu from Moff Gideon.
Before all of them were then rescued by Luke Skywalker, who had come after Grogu called him out through the Force back on Tython (the planet Gideon had the Dark Troopers grab him from).
We then have an extremely emotional goodbye between Din and Grogu, as Luke takes Grogu with him to train him to be a Jedi.
The finale then has a post-credit scene in where we see Boba Fett and Fennec back on Tatooine and shooting their way into Jabba the Hutt’s palace, before killing Bib Fortuna and taking his place on Jabba’s throne. We then get the announcement that The Book of Boba Fett is coming in December of 2021.
Now, if you’re a causal Star Wars fan and one that is just invested in The Mandalorian, then you might have skipped The Book of Boba Fett altogether thinking the series would not touch upon the main Mando storyline. Well it does and it basically sets up quite a few things that are important plot points to Season 3.
So, it’s only the last three episodes of The Book of Boba Fett that directly affect Season 3 of The Mandalorian, so if you haven’t seen it or just need a quick refresher, I am going to let you know everything you need to know.
*****Obviously major spoilers ahead*****
All you need to know about the first four episodes of The Book of Boba Fett is that Boba is trying to rule Tatooine as its new, but respected, Daimyo. However, he learns that the Pyke Syndicate — a drug cartel run by an alien species called Pykes — wants to kill him so that they can take control over the planet in order to run their spice trade through it.
Now in the fifth episode,”Chapter 5: Return of the Mandalorian,” we see Din again, who after saying goodbye to Grogu, has returned to a life of bounty hunting. We see him tracking down a Klatooinian (sorta Bulldog-faced alien species) named Kaba Baiz, who is the boss at a butcher shop. After a brief fight, Din takes Kaba’s decapitated head as proof that he killed him, but not before he cuts himself badly on his leg with the Darksaber — which he struggles to know how to wield.
After delivering the head to the bird-looking alien who ordered the hit, Din gets his bounty, which is directions to where the secret hideout of the Mandalorians is located. (It happens to be on the very exterior of the underside of ring-shaped spaceship planet he is already on.) Walking down to the hideout he finds the Armorer and Paz Vizsla, who we last saw on Nevarro during Season 1, helping rescue Din and Grogu from bounty hunters who were trying to get Grogu. We also learn that they are the last survivors of their tribe of Mandalorian warriors and that the others had been killed in the fight against the bounty hunters.
As they tend to his injury, the Armorer asks how he got a wound like that (since it cut through his beskar armor), to which Din answers by pulling out the Darksaber. The Armorer then reveals that the Darksaber had been forged over 1,000 years earlier by Tarre Vizsla, who was both a Mandalorian and a Jedi. She also restates that whoever wields it is the ruler of Mandalore, but that it must be won in battle, because if it is not and it is just given to someone who is “undeserving” then it will bring a curse onto all Mandalorians and their world.
The Armorer then goes on to say this is exactly what happened with Bo-Katan, who was given the Darksaber and that “her rule ended in tragedy. They lost their way, and we lost our world.” The Armorer then goes on to talk about the Great Purge, which is when the Empire destroyed Mandalore — during the time that Bo-Katan was the ruler — and killed almost everyone who lived there.
Din then gives the Armorer his beskar spear — the one Ahsoka Tano gave him after she defeated the Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth on Corvus — to be melted down into armor after she tells him that beskar is only for armor and not to make weapons (as it would pose a threat to other Mandalorians). But, he also asks the Armorer to make him some armor for Grogu from it.
After making Grogu’s armor, the Armorer then tries to train Din in how to use the Darksaber. As he struggles to wield it, she tells him it’s not about controlling it with his strength, but rather that he can’t fight with it while having a distracted mind, otherwise the saber will fight against him.
Then, after a brief fight over control of the Darksaber against Paz, Din reveals to the Armorer that he has taken off his helmet before. The Armorer tells him he is no longer a Mandalorian because he has broken an important vow and must leave their tribe. She does however say he can atone for it by going to the living waters beneath the mines of Mandalore. Which leaves Din questioning how he can get to them since the planet is completely destroyed.
After being kicked out of the tribe, Din takes a commercial space flight over to Tatooine to meet Peli Motto, who tells him she has a pre-Empire ship for him — an old Naboo N-1 starfighter (like the ones seen in The Phantom Menace) — which will replace his previous destroyed ship, the Razor Crest.
While it takes some convincing, Din eventually agrees to it and the two repair the ship. And then he truly tests the ship’s power when he takes it on its first test run.
After taking his new ship out for its first run, Din finds Fennec waiting for him at Peli’s hanger. She tells him that Boba Fett needs his help fighting the Pyke Syndicate, and that he is willing to pay him. Din tells her that he’ll do it for free, but that first he needs to “pay a visit to a little friend.” And that’s how the fifth episode ends.
The sixth episode starts with Cobb Vanth, who you’ll remember is the marshal of Tatooine’s Mos Pelgo (but is now called Freetown), confronting four Pyke spice runners and telling them to leave the area immediately. However, one of them tries to shot Cobb, which leads him to killing all but one in self-defense. Cobb then tells the surviving Pyke to tell the Syndicate that there will be no spice running in his territories.
Din flies to Ossus, the planet that Luke is building his new Jedi training school on, where he is greeted by R2-D2 who takes him over to bench where he is made to wait — just as R2 shuts down.
Meanwhile, Luke tries to teach Grogu, but he is distracted and seems to have his attention more on eating a one-eyed frog — so Luke decides to show him the power of the Force by lifting all the frogs from the nearby pond at once. He then ends the lesson and takes Grogu on a walk.
During the walk, Luke tells Grogu that he reminds him of his old master, Yoda, and asks if he remembers anything about where he is from. He then offers to help him remember and uses the Force to help bring back his memories.
This leads to possibly the biggest reveal in The Mandalorian Universe, as Grogu remembers being in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant the night Order 66 was executed. He even sees the Jedi who are trying to protect him be gunned down by Clone Troopers. But just as he is spotted by the Clone Troopers he awakens. Of course, this now sets up the question of who saved Grogu from the Jedi Temple that night?
After he awakens, Luke sensing or possibly seeing everything Grogu went through in that moment during Order 66, tells him that will teach him how to protect himself.
While waiting, Din falls asleep, but when he awakens he sees Ahsoka standing there. He asks her to take him to see Grogu, saying it’s because he has a gift for him. However as the two look at Luke and Grogu from a distance, Ahsoka tells Din that it isn’t a good idea, that the separation between the two of them has been hard on Grogu, that he misses him a great deal, and that if he saw Din now it would hinder his training.
Din agrees to leave for the sake of Grogu, but asks Ashoka to please give him the gift he brought for him.
After a great training montage that is an homage to Yoda and Luke in The Empire Strikes Back, we see Grogu’s Force strength get stronger and stronger.
Ashoka then comes over to Luke, bringing the gift from Din. Luke confides in her that it’s more like Grogu is remembering things than him teaching him. And also that he doesn’t know if Grogu’s heart is actually in it. Ashoka tells Luke that he so much like his father and that he should trust his instincts on what to do with him. She then says goodbye and tells Luke that perhaps they will see each other again.
Din returns to Jabba’s Palace to find Boba and Fennec planning their attack against the Pyke Syndicate. While they have some people/soldiers on their side they’re still way outnumbered. Din tells them he might know where to get some more help and then leaves.
Upon arriving in Freetown, Din immediately sees Cobb and asks if the citizens there would be willing to form a garrison to help fight the Syndicate and that Boba would pay them. Cobb hesitates, but Din tells him eventually the spice runners will take over Freetown too and that he didn’t see him as someone who would back down from a fight. Cobb tells Din that he’ll see what he can do.
After Din leaves an old bounty hunter named Cad Bane shows up to Freetown. Representing the Syndicate, he tells Cobb that they will match whatever Boba is paying them and all they have to do is sit it out. Cobb refuses to take his offer, which leads to a standoff where Cobb is critically shot after his deputy — who ended up shot and killed — tried to intervene.
The episode ends with Luke and Grogu sitting inside the temple on Ossus. Luke shows Grogu the chainmail beskar armor Din had made for him, and also show’s him the lightsaber that had once belonged to Yoda, but he tells him he has to make a choice: Either go back to Din or continue down the path of being a great Jedi.
In Episode 7, Grogu arrives back at Peli’s hanger on Tatooine in Luke’s X-wing, which is being piloted by R2-D2. Excited to see him, Peli picks him up and notices he is wearing the chainmail armor (confirming that he indeed chose to be with Din). R2 asks where Din is, to which Peli responds that he is doing some sort of job in Mos Espa. R2 then tells Peli that Grogu’s name is “Grogu,” to which she replies, “Wow, that’s a terrible name.”
Din, Boba, and Fennec begin their attack on the Syndicate, but soon find out that they have been set-up and that the other crime families (that had said would be sitting out the fight) are going to attack Boba’s soldiers.
They get a brief reprieve when the Freetown garrison — inspired to fight after Cobb was shot — joins them. However, the Syndicate brings Scorpenek droids, whose shields they are almost unable to penetrate.
It’s during all this that Peli shows up to Mos Espa with Grogu (hidden underneath a blanket) and actually runs into Din, who is running from a Scorpenek droid. Not knowing why she’s there, Din jumps on the back of her rickshaw to get away.
Upon seeing Din, Grogu jumped into his arms and finally reunited with him once again.
Meanwhile, Boba Fett realized the one thing that could help them take down the Scorpenek droids was a rancor that he had been gifted early in the first episodes and that he had began to learn how to ride. The rancor was able to destory one of two Scorpeneks following Din, Peli, and Grogu, while leaving the other with its shield destroyed.
Din then uses the Darksaber to finish destroying it, however he is knocked down to the ground while trying to do it.
Grogu, seeing Din on the ground about to be killed by the Scorpenek, uses the Force to lift the droid up into the air and pull one of the bolts that holds it together out. Allowing Din to get away and the rancor to jump in and finish destroying it.
We get another display at just how strong Grogu has gotten with the Force since training with Luke when later his able to put the rancor to sleep (it had gone on rampage after being burned in the face by Cad), though this time it did take out the energy from him and he fell asleep next to it.
The episode ends with Din and Grogu flying away in the new N-1 starfighter.
There is also a mid-credit scene where we see Cobb recuperating in Boba’s bacta tank — meaning we haven’t seen the last of him yet!
So that’s it! Now you’re all caught up with everything that happened in with The Mando storyline in The Book of Boba Fett. Okay, now do you have a theory or something you’d like to see in Season 3?
