Notwithstanding appearances within The Book of Boba Fett, The Mandalorian has been absent from our lives for some time. After 2 years of turmoil, a nasty dismissal of a key cast member, corporate turmoil and intrigue, will the trailer for the third season of the Mandalorian draw fans back in?
“Our people are scattered….like stars in the galaxy. What are we? What do we stand for?” – Din Djarin, Future Mand’alor
So opens the trailer for the new season, but somehow the words don’t feel earned. Oh, Din is certainly fated for the role, but it feels like a character editor has been used to add levels to the PC so he can take on the boss without having to do sidequests.
Maybe this is unfair, but how does Din Djarin have followers? Where did these Mandalorians come from? We all want to see him reach this height, but he’s got some personal redemption to go through first.
“Being a Mandalorian’s not just learning about how to fight – you also have to know how to navigate the galaxy. That way, you’ll never be lost.” – Din Djarin, Father Figure
We’re in familiar and welcome territory here. Some fans have begun to tire of Grogu, but I’m not one of them. I do believe the pair should not have been reunited in The Book of Boba Fett, but this line promises to reveal more of Din’s backstory and early life within Death Watch, and also explore his own feelings of being lost now that he’s cut off from his heritage – at least until he redeems himself.
Familiar and Unfamiliar Territory
Brief shots of a reunion with Greef Carga on a much more prosperous Navarro. (Eagle-eyed fans will notice a portion of a heroic statue of IG-11 standing atop a pile of stormtrooper helmets in the Navarro town square.)
Next we see the flight through the poisoned atmosphere of Mandalore, cross-cut with a conversation between Din and Rook Kast (erm..I mean The Armorer).
“I’m going to Mandalore, so that I may be forigven for my transgressions.” – Din Djarin, The Penitent
The bombed-out husk of Sundari beckons, but we leave it quickly for a scene with Pelli Motto, as The Mandalorians’ sleek souped-up N1 starfighter leaves Tatooine, and she calls out “May The Force Be With You.”
“This is the Way.” – Din Djarin, Way-Follower
The N1 flies through fireworks, and we cut to another unexpected scene – Coruscant, and a taxi flying through the night sky carrying Dr. Pershing. Over this, we hear the voice of Captain Carson Teva:
“There’s something dangerous happening out there, and by the time it becomes big enough for you to act, it’ll be too late.” – Captain Carson Teva, Overeager Traffic Cop
The First Order, or Thrawn? Could be either, and the tease is likely deliberate.
We cut to sickly-lit caverns, possibly on the ruined source of Mandalore. Within a cave, The Mandalorian extracts what appears to be an ancient Mandalorian Mask from the ash. Whether truly ancient, or simply ravaged by the Night of A Thousand Tears, this could be a random Mandalorian helmet, the “original” Mask of Mandalore, or perhaps the helmet that once belonged to Tor Viszla.
We then cut to a flashback of Order 66 from Grogus perspective, as a a door is nearly breached and Jedi rush to defend.
The next scene sees TIE Interceptors pursuing a Mandalorian Gauntlet Fighter over a body of water, while it skillfully evades. This scene looks to be a fake-out edit – it is intercut with the Mando speaking to Grogu, but in the scene where he appears, he is within his N1 starfighter cockpit. It’s unclear who actually pilots the Gauntlet.
“Hang on Kid!” – Din Djarin, Helicopter Parent
Several quick scenes now, involving Mando crashing an all-droid bar, Mandalorians dropping from the sky into a battle in Navarro (where it appears the IG-11 statue has been destroyed), a Mandalorian binding a Nikto in a capture cable, tripping him, and giving him a view of an apartment occupied by *shudder* a family of Babu Friks, and concluding with Grogu navigating his pram out the exit of a cave on a planet that looks VERY MUCH like Malachor V, but which is probably just Mandalore. He is confronted by a monster that could be either a ‘roided up Talz or a new version of the Rakghoul – but he bats it aside with his growing Force Powers.
“This is the Way” – Din Djarin, he REALLY likes The Way
Join #TheMandalorian and #Grogu once again in the new season, streaming March 1 on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/vqewQg35mO
— The Mandalorian (@themandalorian) January 17, 2023
So, How did it Make Me Feel?
Well – not the way I expected. I’ve loved The Mandalorian up to this point. It’s one of the things that I feel Disney has gotten right, along with Rogue One, Andor, and Rebels.
The firing of Gina Carano left a sour taste in my mouth, and her presence is going to be missed. The fact that she won’t be here undercuts the presence of Carson Teva, who was clearly going to be the lead-in for Rangers of the New Republic.
The reuniting of Grogu with Mando feels far too rushed – this portion of the story feels like it should be the “personal journey” of Din Djarin. The loss of Grogu for a time would’ve left him unbalanced, and a journey of redemption would’ve given him time to grow and to discover his center again.
My hope is that this season will focus heavily on the redemptive arc of Din Djarin, and that it will involve a LOT of Mandalore, Bo Katan, Clan politics, The Darksaber, and Moff Gideon – but this trailer didn’t really give much away. It felt more like just another teaser, and in that sense I was disappointed.
Which leads to one more possible sticking point:
What should I do?
After the firing of Gina Carano, I cancelled my Disney+ subscription. I went without it for a very long time. After Bob Chapeks renewal as CEO of Disney, and following moves that looked positive to me, I reluctantly signed up for the service again in order to review Andor.
Shortly thereafter, Chapek was given the boot unceremoniously in the dead of night, and somehow Bob Iger, architect of Disneys current woes, had returned.
I cancelled my Disney+ account on the spot, and in my cancellation message said that due to the firing, they would never receive a dime from me again.
I have been on a personal boycott of all new Disney Star Wars products. Recently, I have been focusing on the old EU, and plan in the future to focus on fun or obscure things from Star Wars past that maybe you didn’t know about, or might find interesting.
However, that does prevent me from reviewing current materials, such as The Bad Batch.
I felt that readers of this site had sent me a signal that you’re all done with Disney Star Wars, but I want to make sure that’s the sentiment. As such, I’ll be launching a poll on my Twitter Page @lornconner.
Do you want me to re-up my subscription to Disney+ in order to review Mando Season 3, or would you prefer that I let it go and only focus on the older stuff, with commentary on the insider goings-on at Disney and Lucasfilm?
Let me know, and also let me know how you felt about the Mando Season 3 trailer – did it get you hyped, or are you content to let it end with Grogu heading off with Luke Skywalker?
For all the latest news and analysis of all things that should be fun, keep reading That Park Place. As always, join in the conversation and drop a comment down below!
I’m not on Twitter so I’ll respond here. Bad Batch season 2 has been pretty good. I don’t know your tastes, but I’ll speak for myself and say episode 3 I actually watch 3 times because on its own it was amazing. I’m a bit surprised that park place doesn’t have its own account that you could use without having to “pay” for. You kind of have to subscribe so you can help the rest of us determine whether or not it’s the right thing to do, and whether or not these stories justify the cost.
It’s possible thst Chapek should have been fired. We are never going to know the actual details, and honestly they don’t matter. Hopefully you reconsider because I think this whole community values your opinion and you can’t really give thst if you can’t watch…great thoughts on the trailer. I was left underwhelmed because nothing of the story was revealed. I actually think that may be a good sign. They withheld groggy from anything in the first season. Feloni knows what he is doing. I’m willing to not judge a show by its trailer.
I was a little mixed on The Bad Batch, with an expectation that it would get better once we were past the first season.
I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying it!
Look for a mountain of coverage on exactly what led to Chapeks firing forthcoming on both this site, and Valliant Renegades channel.
I don’t believe Chapeks firing was justified, but that doesn’t mean he was savior, but I DO believe he was trying to moderate. I can’t support the current leadership, and that’s why I’m struggling with this decision. Also, I want to make sure I’m supporting the audience in its desire for coverage – which is why I’m putting the question to the audience directly.
Thanks for the comment – I’ll let everyone know what the results are next week!
The trailer was really playing it safe in my mind. Didn’t really show much of anything. I don’t know why I bother I haven’t watched either Obi-Wan or Andor after the mess that was TBoBF. (Okay, the two “this isn’t Mando season 2.5 we promise” episodes were pretty great.)
I’ll probably convince myself to give Mando season 3 a go despite my better judgment because I enjoyed for the most part the first two seasons. Despite everything leading towards the dumpster fire that is the sequel trilogy.
I do slowly find myself only caring about the GL canon and select EU stories. You are doing a great job of show casing those things by the way. Please keep it up.
Andor ended up being really great in my opinion, but it was a slog to get to that great part. You’ve got to get through 5 very slow episodes before it picks up, but once it does it never lets up on the pace. Those 5 episodes that feel weird in the beginning do important world-building that pays off later, but I wish they’d cut those first 6 episodes down to 3. I think the show would’ve done a lot better if they had.
Glad you’re enjoying the coverage. I still have a tiny hope that they’ll find a way to divert, but with recent board moves that hope is getting strangled. The second they absolutely confirm that we’re hitting the sequels, I’m out.
Out of curiosity what makes you believe they will divert from the sequels?
“Believe” is a strong word. I wouldn’t say that I “believe” that they will, but I can tell you that it’s in their best financial interest to do so.
So far, I believe Disney/Lucasfilm have been deliberately slow-rolling forward progress as they assess the Star Wars situation and try to figure out the best way to improve their fortunes.
Likewise, a good writer never writes themselves into a situation that they can’t get out of. Good writing covers a multitude of sins, and situations that would seem corny/impossible sometimes become something that a fanbase ultimately accepts and celebrates down the road. (Case in point: Darth Mauls return).
Am I confident they’ll take an offramp? No…but one thing I have noticed is that plot points that have been set up in The Mandalorian could build foundational support for the sequel trilogy, OR begin seeding plotlines that would support a loose adaptation of the Thrawn trilogy.
One of these paths would bury the franchise, the other would earn them a ton of good will. Actuaries are aware of this.
Does that mean they’ll change course? Probably not – but if they don’t, they will have destroyed the most popular property in the world, and wasted the 4 bn+ they spent on it. Whatever they do, they have to pull the trigger soon, or the window of opportunity will be lost.
Mando S2 trailer played it safe too………. Lucasfilm did a decent job selling Obi Wan and Andor in their trailers but F&F seemed way less willing to show their hands early.
Seems like I’m in a similar boat as you, Lorn. After the firing of Gina Carano, and then the hard reboot on the Grogu/Luke storyline in Bobf, I find myself curiously unmoved by all of this. I didn’t watch Kenobi, I watched only a few Bad Batch before losing interest, I watched Andor but found the writing laboured and the storyline sterile, I watched the first Tales of the Jedi but found the story a cliche and weak. I really want to love Star Wars again, even now nothing diminishes my love of the OT, but what is there to really invest in when Lucasfilm can pull the rug out from under you at any time it seems. I was all in after Mando series 2 and Luke. Finally, new characters interacting with old characters in a respectful, creative but above all authentic way. But now… I’m almost annoyed by Grogu’s presence in this trailer. His rejection of the Jedi feels like another Lucasfilm FU to Luke, and a reinforcement that all roads lead to the sequel trilogy. I certainly don’t find Grogu cute anymore. Carson Teva saying his line to Mando annoyed me because it was another reminder of the reboot forced by Gina Carano’s unwarranted, callous, political firing. All that said, I’m interested in Din’s story but what a ridiculous mess of behind the scenes politics derailing what was shaping up to be really good Star Wars story telling. I guess I will check it out at some stage, but until the sequel trilogy is retconned, Gina is back in the fold, and Grogu is back with heroic Luke, I’m not really that interested. Keep up the great work Lorn and colleagues, as a jorno myself, you guys are doing a great job of analysing what little information does come our way.
Thanks for the kind words. I think there’s a possibility we get *some* of the things that you want, but I don’t think we’ll get all of them. (Some ships have unfortunately sailed.)
Am I optimistic for Star Wars future? Not at present. I’m very nervous about Mando S3, and that really breaks my heart.
But I also can’t believe that they’d actually allow this property to remain in a second-rate state. At some point, somebody has to stop the madness.
Right now, I’m rooting for Nelson Peltz.
There are other ways to watch The Bad Batch and The Mandalorian besides subscribing to Disney+. Just sayin’…
I’m well aware, but unless actually sharing a viewing with friends (which delays reviewing), I’m not comfortable with those options.
Besides – if I’m going to be reviewing something, I should have some skin in the game. If the product is crappy, that cost incurred should be an irritant – my hope is that that will ensure a more honest review.
That said, I’m not married to the idea of resubbing. Much as I have loved the Mandalorian, I’d rather have it end in my headcanon with the end of S2 than have S3 break my heart. I’ll let the community speak, and will likely have future polls on other upcoming projects that I’m hopeful for but nervous about. (Jedi: Survivor comes to mind.)
I think, for professional reasons alone, you can’t ignore Disney Star Wars. All oppo research work involves subscribing to some pretty terrible stuff, just to keep an eye on what “the enemy” is doing. And it’s not like Disney is your professional enemy, even; just a crappy company making products you cover professionally. Besides, even if your TPP’s current fans are “done with it”, even if Disney never makes a quality Star Wars product again, there will always be others looking for information on it, people who could benefit from your experience and commentary.
I do hear you on the some ships have sailed comment Lorn. May the force be with you!