Grogu also spent two years studying the Jedi ways with Luke before reuniting with Mando on ‘The Book of Boba Fett,’ the showrunner adds.
The mostly episodic “The Mandalorian” had, to this point, left it very vague how much time had passed for the adventures of Grogu and Din Djarin. But ahead of the show’s highly anticipated Season 3 premiere, creator Jon Favreau has provided some clarity on the show’s timeline — in a way that maybe raises more questions than it does answers.
In an interview for the podcast “Skytalkers” with his fellow executive producers Dave Filoni and Rick Famuyiwa as well as series star Katee Sackhoff, Favreau spoke about how long a time is covered in the first two seasons, which last aired in 2019 and 2020. According to Favreau, those two seasons — which begin five years after the events of the the third “Star Wars” movie “Return of the Jedi” — take place over “many years,” but did not clarify exactly how long a period that is.
Furthermore, he also claimed that two years passed between the Season 2 finale “The Return” and episodes 6 and 7 of the spinoff limited series “The Book of Boba Fett.” “The Return” saw Grogu, the powerful Force-sensitive charge of Din, leave to train with the original film star Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), while the final two episodes of “The Book of Boba Fett” saw him abandon his training to reunite with his adoptive father.
While there’s nothing in “The Mandalorian” that massively contradicts the idea that the first two seasons span several years, the show itself doesn’t have much in the way of indications that time has passed, and Grogu — often referred to as “Baby Yoda” for his young age and resemblance to the beloved “Star Wars” character — has barely aged over the course of the show (admittedly, Yoda lived for about 800 years, so his species evidently ages very slowly). The “Book of Boba Fett” timeline is far more confusing, as the show seemingly portrays the events and actions of the cast — including Boba (Temuera Morrison), Fennec Shard (Ming-Na Wen), and Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson), who’s getting her own show — as taking place immediately after the main show’s Season 2 finale, and Grogu seemed to return to Din after only training with Luke for a few weeks. (That undoubtedly contributed to “Boba” ranking dead last on IndieWire’s ranking of the “Star Wars” TV shows.)
It’s unclear if Season 3 of the show — which stars Pedro Pascal as the title bounty hunter — will also take place over several years, or shed more light on the timeline. The season — which also stars Giancarlo Esposito, Carl Weathers, Katee Sackhoff, Emily Swallow, Omid Abtahi, Amy Sedaris, Christopher Lloyd, and Tim Meadows — sees Grogu and Din head to the planet of Mandalore so that Din can regain his honor and become a Mandalorian once again, while being pursed by Bo-Katan (Sackhoff) on their journey.
Season 3 of “The Mandalorian” premieres on Disney+ March 1. Watch Favreau, Filoni, Famuyiwa, and Sackhoff’s interview with “Skytalkers” below. The bit about the amount of time Seasons 1 and 2 cover is at the 7:38 mark.
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