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The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau has talked about what to expect in season 3, and the importance of keeping the story “consistent” with other Star Wars shows. Photo: AP

The Mandalorian returns to Disney+ for season 3 – Star Wars show creator Jon Favreau on what to expect, and why story may continue into ‘distant future’

  • Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin and Grogu are reunited, and we can expect a ‘culmination of intersecting characters’, according to Jon Favreau, the show’s creator
  • He also talks about keeping the series ‘consistent’ with other Star Wars shows, and how working with a masked protagonist that will ‘never age’ is advantageous

More than two years since the last season of The Mandalorian, the science fiction Western series from the Star Wars universe is back.

In between, fans did not have to go without the warm-hearted bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), because the spin-off series The Book of Boba Fett to a large extent concerns him and Grogu, better known as Baby Yoda.

In the spin-off, Grogu decided against training with Luke Skywalker to become a Jedi, choosing to follow his mentor Din Djarin. As a result, the two are now together once again travelling the galaxy in the third season of The Mandalorian, which is streaming on Disney+.
Little is known about the plot for the third season, but Din Djarin – known for his mantra “this is the way” – visits the planet Mandalore to make amends for his transgressions. In the finale of season two, he took off his helmet in the presence of others to bid farewell to Grogu. For this, he was cast out by his peers.
A still from the third season of The Mandalorian, now streaming on Disney+. Photo: Disney+

“A lot of what played out in season one and season two led to what you’re going to see here in season three,” says the show’s creator, Jon Favreau.

“And we’ve been building now to this through two seasons of this and one season of Book of Boba Fett, and there’s a culmination of a lot of intersecting characters who have different motivations and also the discovery of what’s happened to Mandalore.

“People have seen it in The Clone Wars, what it used to look like. We know that the Purge siege (the genocide of the Mandalorians by the Galactic Empire) happened, and now we get to explore that planet as well.”

The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau at the presentation of the third season of The Mandalorian, in Madrid, Spain. Photo: EPA-EFE

The new season sees the reappearance of characters such as Greef Karga (Carl Weathers), Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff), the mechanic Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris) and The Armorer (Emily Swallow).

Then there is the magnificent Giancarlo Esposito – whom many viewers would love to see more – as the supervillain Moff Gideon. After the experience of the first two seasons, viewers can expect to see various guest appearances by prominent and less prominent actors.

So far, the trailers have been teasing viewers with some of the cinematic-style action scenes. Alongside some spectacular spaceship chase scenes, the trailers showed numerous Mandalorians from the planet Coruscant, known from the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

There is also a featured scene with Jedi Knights who have drawn their lightsabres. On the internet, fans have already been speculating about a flashback with a guest appearance by Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker, who last had a comeback in the miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi.

With so many new Star Wars series, Favreau’s job gets all the more complex. The 56-year-old is also in charge of the Ahsoka series which is to start later this year and is affiliated with The Mandalorian.

“Now we have to think about not just what’s surrounding us, but also the other shows like Ahsoka and [upcoming series] Skeleton Crew, which are existing in the same time frame. So as things unfold in each series, we want to make sure it’s consistent across multiple storylines,” he says about the original Star Wars films and the trilogy sequel between which The Mandalorian takes place.

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In contrast to the other Star Wars shows like Andor, which are dark and almost realistic, The Mandalorian keeps pleasantly close to the flair of the original films.

“We really tried to rely on the tone that Star Wars was when I first saw it when I was a little kid,” Favreau says.

“There was always intense action and there were moments where it feels scary and dangerous and cruel. Darth Vader was scary. But then you also had R2-D2, you had comic relief and puppets and animatronics and rubber masks. What’s nice about Star Wars is there can be all sorts of different stories told with different tones.”

Season 3 of The Madalorian sees Din Djarin, played by Pedro Pascal (centre), reunited with Grogu. Photo: AP

One pleasant difference with other contemporary TV series is that, despite the overriding plot, each episode is self-contained.

“We wanted to go back to the roots for inspiration here and back before my time, like when there was a lot of Western television programming and people really understood the characters and the archetypes. So we did it like a bit of a throwback to old-style television. And it also allowed us to have each director to really tell a complete story in the episodes that they were assigned to.”

Besides himself, Favreau mentions directors Robert Rodriguez (From Dusk Till Dawn) and Peyton Reed (Ant-Man).

Grogu in a still from The Mandalorian. Favreau says that working with a puppet and a main character that wears a helmet means Grogu and Din Djarin will “never age”. Photo: Disney+

The Mandalorian is a flagship series for Disney+, and Din Djarin’s journey is likely to continue for a long time. “We have some ideas about what’s going to happen in the distant future,” Favreau says. “I have just finished writing the fourth season.”

Even if one day there is a The Mandalorian finale, the ever-busy Favreau says it won’t be the end of the story.

With a wink he cites the advantages of his chief characters: “I don’t feel the pressures that television normally has. If you were working with a kid actor, they’re going to get older. But here, because Grogu is a puppet and Mandalorian (Din Djarin) is wearing a helmet, they’ll never age.”

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