Television’s favorite daddy is back, and this time he’s out for revenge! The Mandalorian season three trailer dropped last night, ahead of the March 1 season premiere on Disney+, returning Pedro Pascal to the galaxy far, far away (along with stunt performers Lateef Crowder and Brendan Wayne, who do most of the physical performance in the suit, especially for season three, as Pascal was busy with The Last of Us). Mando is reunited with his adorable space booger son, Grogu, and they’re headed to the ruins of Mandalore to, it appears, not only restore Din Djarin’s honor, but also reunite and reclaim the glory of Mandalore.
You may recall that season two lost me entirely when a de-aged Mark Hamill showed up as Luke Skywalker, and I stand by it—I am now deeply suspicious of this show, specifically, and remain suspicious of Star Wars, generally, that neither can tell a story without involving Skywalkers. I’ve been saying it for years but they just keep proving me right—Star Wars is small.
But what I HAVE enjoyed over two seasons of storytelling on The Mandalorian is 1) the relationship built up between Mando and Grogu, and 2) the slow-burn story which finally seems to be going somewhere about how the Mandalorians restore their civilization after the Empire wiped it out. In nerdy Star Wars backstory, Mandalore was a thriving civilization that fought with the Jedi, then were kicked when they were downed by the Empire—we saw a little of that in flashbacks of Mando’s childhood. Mandalorian lore—Mandalore-ian, if you will—is one of the more interesting and under-explored corners of Star Wars, so this is a fun direction to go in as long as no more goddamned Skywalkers show up. Just let this story be its own thing! It’s best when it is just its own thing! I am willing to give this show another chance to see if they can deliver on that initial potential.
Because this is what this trailer is showing us. We see Greef Karga (Carl Weathers), obviously doing well for himself, and Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris), still running her space port; these are both characters native to this show, it’s nice to see their ongoing stories. There are also a couple Bobu Frik critters, so I guess we’re just shoving all the cutest merchandizing opportunities into this show, which is fine as long as it’s not Luke F-cking Skywalker again. PLEASE just let ONE corner of Star Wars exist free of Skywalkers and special blood. We do see some Jedi with lightsabers in the trailer, but that could be a flashback to the time when the Jedi warred with Mandalore, or maybe it’s survivors of the recent events of the original trilogy, unknown Jedi who suddenly have something in common with Mandalorians—the Empire kicked both their asses (for a while, anyway). Either way, NOT SKYWALKERS. I have given up on any part of Star Wars remaining Jedi-free, now I am just praying they can move beyond Luke and Leia. I am here for the restoration of Mandalore, not more Skywalker propaganda.
