The wait for the next season of The Mandalorian hasn’t been an easy one, especially after two massive cliffhangers that left the internet ablaze last December. One of those cliffhangers will be addressed in The Book of Boba Fett, which continues the story of Boba and Fennec Shand’s hostile takeover of Jabba the Hutt’s old territory on Tatooine. But the other cliffhanger — whether Din Djarin and Grogu will ever be reunited — will remain a mystery into next year.
Delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic forced The Mandalorian to skip a year, but the good news is that Lucasfilm is filming season 3 as we speak. Star Pedro Pascal, who’s currently very busy shooting HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation in Canada, even allegedly took some time to record dialogue for the new season in a studio in Calgary in the past few weeks. Mind you, The Mandalorian season 3 still won’t hit Disney+ until the second half of 2022 at the earliest, but at least we know it’s coming.
In fact, photos from the set of The Mandalorian are already starting to leak online, revealing a few things fans should expect when the show returns. Below, you can see our first look at a new Mandalorian character who will be introduced in season 3…
You can see the mystery Mandalorian against a blue screen, wearing armor that looks sort of brown and greenish in color. He’s even got a jetpack and a rocket strapped to his back. Yes, it’s the traditional Mando kit. Unfortunately, the pictures are too blurry to really pick out any other details about the character — or the actor playing him.
So what’s the deal with the new Mando? Well, the most logical explanation is that he’s either another member of Bo-Katan Kryze’s crew or part of Din’s own tribe of Mandalorians who were forced to scatter during the Imperial assault on Nevarro in season 1. You also have to remember that season 2 ended with a clear trajectory in mind, with Grogu rescued and off to learn the ways of the Jedi with Luke Skywalker, Din must now honor his deal to help Bo-Katan, who has amassed a small army of Mandalorians to take back their home planet from the Empire. (Not that the path towards an invasion of Mandalore will be without drama since Din has accidentally become the rightful leader of his people after winning the Darksaber from Moff Gideon. Bo-Katan isn’t very happy about potentially giving up her throne.) So it makes sense that new Mandalorians are being introduced to the series. One rumor suggests that we could see as many as 75 new Mandos on screen next season, warriors answering Din’s call for the mission to Mandalore.
But those are just rumors. The question is: what’s happening with this specific Mando? Another photo leaked from the set has some fans speculating that this particular scene takes place on an ice planet due to the block of ice adorning the stage just beyond the giant blue screen. Is this scene set on Maldo Kreis, the ice planet that’s been featured on several episodes of the show, or somewhere else? The design of the ice does sort of look like part of the glaciers that cover Maldo Kreis’ surface.
So is this Mandos vs. The Giant Spiders of Maldo Kreis? I sure hope so. I’d love to see that.
The Mandalorian season 3 will hit Disney+ in 2022. In the meantime, check out the full schedule of upcoming Star Wars movies and TV series here.