Even with new Star Wars Disney+ offerings such as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor, fans are eager to continue the story of The Mandalorian and the spin-offs surrounding it. As the MandoVerse expands with The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, Rangers of the New Republic, and Skeleton Crew, Lucasfilm has big plans for the future, which will next be explored in The Mandalorian Season 3.
With Season 3 on the way to Disney+ in February 2023, after footage was just recently shown at Star Wars Celebration, plans are already underway for Season 4 and beyond. Moff Gideon actor Giancarlo Esposito teased the fourth entry over a year ago as he promised the next two seasons will be when viewers are "really gonna start to get answers."
Despite these comments, Lucasfilm is yet to make an official statement about anything beyond the third season. Fans will probably be waiting until after Season 3 concludes for a proper announcement, but one creative behind The Mandalorian just offered an exciting Season 4 update.
The Mandalorian Confirms Season 4 Writing has Begun
At Star Wars Celebration, The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau confirmed with Cinema Blend that he has begun writing Season 4.
After sharing his love for the television format, Favreau explained that the writing Dave Filoni is doing for Ahsoka is "very much informing" the work he is doing on The Mandalorian Season 4:
"With television, we're very lucky that we don't have to rush things through into an hour-and-a-half, two hours. We get to tell stories slowly. So now, as Dave [Filoni]'s doing Ahsoka, it's very much informing the writing that I'm doing for [The Mandalorian] Season 4. It becomes – how should I put it – more precise."
Favreau went on to explain how writing the Disney+ series differs from when it first began, as there are now more questions he has to answer and elements that have to connect which makes for a "very fertile ground" for storytelling:
"When I was writing the first season of Mandalorian, I could do anything, set it anywhere. Dave [Filoni] would read it, we'd go back and forth, I would adjust. And there it was. Now we have to figure out why there are certain Mandalorians who wear helmets, certain ones who don't wear helmets, what's happening on Mandalore, what's Bo-Katan doing at the time? How does she feel about that? Where is the Darksaber? So it really creates very fertile ground for imagination, for storytelling."
The Mandalorian director then discussed how the series has grown over time, from a contained story about a bounty hunter to a much larger tale in the Star Wars galaxy. Favreau gave particular praise to Filoni's "deep understanding of everything around the time period," which has led to certain characters coming into the fold:
"I think that inevitably, no matter how simple you start, the story threads start to connect and weave and overlap. And with Dave Filoni's deep understanding of everything around the time period, opportunities will always arise when we have story meetings and conversations about, 'Well, you know what character would be here now...' I mean, that's really how the Luke thing happened."
The filmmaker turned his attention to Luke Skywalker's surprise appearance in the Season 2 finale, sharing that his inclusion wasn't "necessarily planned" but as they looked for a mentor for Grogu it "started to not make sense for it not to be Luke:"
"It wasn't that we necessarily planned to include Luke Skywalker in Season 2. But as we were looking for [Grogu] to get training, we started to weigh out, 'Well, what Jedi are around? Who's left?' And it started to not make sense for it not to be Luke. As we start to tell stories, those stories take on lives of their own, and they have trajectories. And then as those trajectories begin to organically intersect, larger stories with more characters start to make more sense."
The Mandalorian: Endgame
There were recently mumblings that The Mandalorian may be renamed after Season 4 as the current story comes to an end and moves on to new stories with the same characters and time period. With Giancarlo Esposito promising answers in the next two seasons, these claims may well prove true, as the current story involving the throne of Mandalore comes to an end.
Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni have long promised they have a direction planned for the MandoVerse, with the many spin-offs all expected to eventually converge into a blockbuster event. The Mandalorian Season 4 could be this highly-anticipated crossover, bringing characters and stories from the various series together.
Din Djarin actor Pedro Pascal recently shared his interest in making a movie in the MandoVerse. Perhaps a theatrical event may be the perfect way to crossover all these projects for a climactic battle, although it would be an odd move to abandon Disney+ for the finale of a storyline that has been told entirely on the service.
With Favreau and Filoni already planning Season 4 of The Mandalorian, there's a chance the wait after Season 3 may be far shorter than the last. Pascal's schedule appears to be much more open this time around now that his commitments to The Last of Us have been completed.
Lucasfilm has a 25-year period to work with between the current story of The Mandalorian and the rise of the First Order going into the sequel trilogy. One interesting approach after Season 4 could be to take a time jump of several years to move slightly closer toward The Force Awakens.
The Mandalorian Season 3 will premiere on Disney+ in February 2023.
