While Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) recently had the opportunity to reunite with Grogu after the characters took separate paths at the end of The Mandalorian Season 2 (see: The Book Of Boba Fett), things aren't all super swell in the world of the Disney+ show's titular bounty hunter. Because he broke the code of his guild by purposefully taking off his helmet – something that he is never meant to do – Din has been excommunicated as a Mandalorian, and he is told that he has no way to possibly redeem himself.
That, however, may not actually be the case, as revealed in the first ever footage from The Mandalorian Season 3 – which was just shown during the Lucasfilm Showcase presentation at Star Wars Celebration 2022. Based on that material, it looks like Din Djarin is still aiming to win his way back into the good graces of the Mandalorians by traveling to the decimated home planet of Mandalore and be "forgiven for his transgressions."
The Lucasfilm Showcase previewed a whole bunch of new material from the studios' upcoming slate – including not only Star Wars shows (like the first trailer for Andor), but also the upcoming Willow series (which showed off a teaser) and the upcoming Indiana Jones 5 (which unveiled a first look). But it was arguably the exclusive first look at the Mandaloran Season 3 that got the crowd at the Anaheim Convention Center most excited. Because everything is still in post-production, we didn't get to see any extended sequences from the upcoming run of episodes, but we did get clued in on the plot regarding Din Djarin's plan to go to Mandalore and get to see a number of cool returning characters.
Among the returning characters are Bo-Katan Kryze, who we saw meet Din Djarin in The Mandalorian Season 2, and based on what was send during the presentation and what was shown in the footage, it appears that Katee Sackhoff is not only going to have an enhanced role, but that the character's relationship with Din is still complicated following their confrontation over the ownership of the Darksaber.
Also shown to be coming back is Carl Weathers as Greef Karga, who was only in one episode of The Mandalorian Season 2 ("The Seige," the one that Weathers also happened to direct) after being a prominent figure in Season 1. He's not only back, but in one sequence we see him reunited with Din Djarin, wecoming the armor-clad hero by announcing, "I heard you were back, but I didn't believe it." Based on some fancy red duds that he's sporting, it appears that he is doing quite well since the last time we saw him.
Naturally, the footage also featured plenty of space-centric action , with one battle among the stars playing out while Grogu happily sits in Din Djarin's lap – but one of the most intriguing bits in the first look was seeing the return of Omid Abtahi as Dr. Pershing.
The character's fascination with Grogu has been an interesting development since his introduction in the first episode of The Mandalorian, specifically because of his background in cloning, and while he ended up technically helping Din Djarin and friends to recover the green, Force-sensitive alien from Moff Gideon in the Season 2 finale, he will still be around in Season 3, and was shown multiple times in the Star Wars Celebration material.
The footage came to an end with an exciting action sequence featuring Bo-Katan with Grogu, and the former delivering the line, "Did you think your dad was the only Mandalorian?"
Although production on The Mandalorian Season 3 has ended, the episodes are still in post-production, and as a result we're not actually going to see them until some time in 2023 (an official release date has not yet been announced). That being said, based on what we got to see today, the work will be worth the wait.
Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for all of the big updates coming out of Star Wars Celebration, and to keep track of all of the franchise's shows coming to Disney+ in 2022 and beyond, check out our Upcoming Star Wars Movies and TV guide.
