The Mandalorian returns for the third season but it faces what may be the biggest challenge in its relatively short existence.
While The Mandalorian has already delivered so many adorable Grogu moments in season 3, the first episode, “The Apostate,” has also done a huge disservice to his story.
The season 2 finale saw Grogu leave his adopted father to train with Luke Skywalker in an emotional cliffhanger, but the first episode of season 3 almost acts like this never happened.
Anyone who watched The Book of Boba Fett knows that Grogu abandoned his Jedi training in favor of exploring the galaxy with his space dad, but the many people who didn’t watch The Mandalorian spinoff series were left confused as to why and how the two got back together.
“The storytelling that Jon [Favreau] has been spearheading from the very beginning has been slowly, each season, each project, leading us to this. Leading us to the third season,”
And so I think there are a lot of seeds that are planted that are growing and culminating in this season, so I feel that’s partly the feeling — the sense of things culminating. This really feels like a third act in some ways, even though there are lots of stories to tell
Director Rick Famuyiwa
Streaming on: Disney+
As its third season starts, this show faces the real prospect of being eclipsed by a newer, fresher series, amid spreading fan fatigue.
Each episode has a deep dive into the current biggest discussion topics and debates within geek culture: movies, tv, comics, and video games are regular features, with genres like sci-fi, anime, and wrestling also featured regularly.

The first two new episodes of The Mandalorian’s current season are afflicted with a condition referred to as “Table Setting Disease,” which hinders their impact. This occurs when a significant portion of an episode’s focus is on positioning characters for the main plot of the season and providing the audience with the necessary context to comprehend the plot.