A new canon book exploring the timeline of the Star Wars universe is available for fans to read, but its coverage of the events of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett might confuse some.
One of the biggest questions from the fandom regarding continuity is: how much time passed from the moment Din Djarin passed Grogu off to Luke Skywalker until the two were once again reunited in Boba Fett's spinoff show?
Previously, producer Jon Favreau said that it had been "between zero and two years" since the end of Season 2 while also briefly commenting on how it's been "more than one."
Now, the canon guide claims next to no time passed.
A Timeline Contradiction for The Mandalorian
The official Star Wars: Timelines book was released, and within its many pages, the events of Disney+'s The Mandalorian (not including the recent third season) were recounted in detail.
For the events of both Season 1 and 2, including The Book of Boba Fett’s freshman run, the guide labels all of them as happening within the year 9 ABY (After the Battle of Yavin) — the same year the show’s first events happened.
According to Timelines, it had been mere months that passed between Grogu and Din's emotional goodbye in the Season 2 finale and their reunion during The Book of Boba Fett's final battle.
However, the show's producer Jon Favreau had previously said that it had been "more than one" year that the bounty hunter and The Child had been apart.
Jon Favreau's words in the past have directly gone against the idea of it still being 9 ABY, while still managing to be wishy-washy, even trying to squeeze in the claim of "between zero and two years" to keep all options open:
“I don’t know if I said many years, its probably about the real-time that we’ve experienced it. So it was the end of Season 2 when they said goodbye, we checked in in ‘The Book of Boba Fett’ about a year ago when they parted company again, and then he rejoined the Mandalorian. So now, I think somewhere in there, more than one and less than, you know, somewhere between zero and two years.”
His answer was wishy-washy. Though, the clear indication here is that Season 3 is at least a sizeable amount of time after Grogu went with Luke.
The next best thing when it comes down to narrowing down when these events take place is another quote from Favreau. While talking to TV Line, he mentioned that the story is still in "the first third of the second gap" within the Skywalker Saga:
“We talk about this so much. We also have 'Ahsoka' and 'The Skeleton Crew' [coming up], which are taking place in the same time period… But yes, we’re still in ‘the first third of the second gap’."
Though, it is worth noting that Favreau previously contradicted himself as well. In the same discussion article with TV Line about The Mandalorian Season 3, the filmmaker did say "I don't think we're quite to 10 ABY."
What's The Right Timeline for The Mandalorian?
So what's the real answer?
The disappointing reality is likely that no one fully knows, and several parties have their own ideas of the exact timetable. Even the producer and writer of the series himself doesn't seem to want to commit to anything.
One thing fans have called out before is that if there was no sizeable gap between the Mandalorian leaving Grogu and the two getting reunited, then the big moment loses a hefty amount of emotional credibility.
Thankfully, as of now, there aren't many events in that timeframe that the series needs to worry about contradicting or acknowledging. However, with Ahsoka and The Skeleton Crew right around the corner, it'll soon become much harder to avoid these sorts of specifics—especially with a big MandoVerse crossover film on its way.
The Mandalorian Seasons 1, 2, and 3 are now streaming on Disney+.
