Star Wars is reportedly abandoning its best series, and, ultimately, that may be okay. Since 2019, Lucasfilm's beloved sci-fi universe has been buoyed by only one thing: streaming TV. As the franchise suffered from significant creative and strategic woes on the theatrical side of the business with projects like Rogue Squadron or Taika Waititi's Star Wars movie getting stuck in creative limbo, it was shows like Andor, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan Kenobi that kept things afloat. However, one show started it all for the space-faring brand on Disney+, The Mandalorian.
Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni's Pedro Pascal-led space western proved that Star Wars could work in a streaming format when it debuted in November 2019, earning rave reviews for its first two seasons. According to a new report, though, the show's future seems to be in limbo, and, honestly, I am on board with the move.
The Mandalorian ran for three seasons on Disney+, planting its flag as one of the biggest series on the platform to date. The show followed Pedro Pascal's Din Djarin, a bounty-hunting Mandalorian who comes into the company of the adorable force-wielding Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) during a job gone wrong.
From there, the pair embarked on adventures across the galaxy far, far away, crossing paths with a familiar face or two (like Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker and Rosario Dawson's Ahsoka Tano). The Mandalorian Season 3 ended its run on Disney+ in April 2023, with no word on whether the show would return.
Here's Why The Mandalorian Getting Cancelled Is a Good Thing
Insider Daniel Richtman made waves with a recent report about The Mandalorian, sharing on his Patreon that "there won't be a Season 4 of [the series]," and, unless next year's The Mandalorian & Grogu movie performs at the box office, the 2026 blockbuster could be the end of the Mando story (read more about The Mandalorian's shocking cancellation here).
Hearing that Disney+ is about to cut ties with its best Star Wars show ever will be a contentious issue for some fans, but I think it might ultimately be the best thing for both the Mando brand and the franchise as a whole.
Since its 2019 debut, The Mandalorian has meant a lot to a significant number of people. Sure, series like Andor have come along and perhaps dethroned The Mandalorian as the qualitatively best Star Wars series, but Mando still sits at the top of many people's rankings because it has been the best actual Star Wars show.
Andor might be a better series than Mando, but some would argue it never felt like authentic Star Wars in the way that The Mandalorian did.
However, like all things, it feels like it is time for The Mandalorian to make like Obi-Wan in A New Hope and become one with The Force, and here are the biggest reasons why:
A Fear of Commitment Within Its Own Continuity
When The Mandalorian started, it felt ready to take big swings in the Star Wars universe. Pedro Pascal's Din Djarin was bisecting people in doorways, and there was this air of a bold story ready to be told in this all-too-familiar at times mythos.
That continued through the second season of the series, as the show hurdled towards its episode, the Season 2 finale, in which the show's creators made the bold choice to separate its two main characters. While Mando was headed off on his adventures, baby Grogu was passed off to Jedi Master Luke Skywalker for the youngling's training.
This presented an interesting prospect for Season 3. Would Mando and Grogu ever be reunited? How would the pair change in their time apart? Well, it did not take long for fans to find out. The next MandoVerse project, The Book of Boba Fett, brought the pair back together, leaving almost no time for the two characters to change.
This moment has sat funny with many fans, as it gives off the feeling that The Mandalorian creators had no plan with the Season 2 ending twist and were scared of pursuing a Mando season in which its two main characters were separated by light years.
Repetitive Ideas
Sadly, it was not just Mando and Grogu's reunion that made The Mandalorian Season 3 so disappointing. The series started to feel stale in its third season, retreading familiar ideas that the show had tackled one or two seasons prior.
The biggest culprit of this was the return of Giancarlo Esposito's Moff Gideon. After Season 1's final tease of Moff Gideon and the Dark Saber, Season 2 of the hit Disney+ series was primarily centered around a conflict with the former Imperial officer.
Then, when the show returned for even more episodes, it presented Gideon as the primary threat for the third time, retreading well-trodden territory, and making it seem like the Mando train had already run out of narrative steam. And this time, it gave him a just as nebulous ending, potentially teasing that a Season 4 would have again seen him back in the villain role.
A Lack of Direction/Purpose
That is not to say there were no new ideas in The Mandalorian Season 3; however, after the dramatic events of Season 2, the show seemingly took a hard left turn, losing its sense of direction and purpose.
For the show's first two seasons, everything hinged on exploring Grogu's powers and bringing him to a Jedi so that he could potentially be trained in the ways of the Force.
That pursuit, however, was abandoned in the show's third season, leaving behind what had been the series' driving force and replacing it with disparate elements that, when combined, felt aimless and at times padded out.
Stories like the Dr. Pershing cloners episode in Season 3 felt unneeded and never returned with any significant payoff. The whole season came off very sidequesty and felt like the show had lost its narrative North Star from the first two seasons.
Interconnectivity Held It Back
For years, one of the biggest complaints in Star Wars lore has been, "Why is it always so connected?" And The Mandalorian Season 3 managed to tap into exactly that by tying Grogu's story directly to the events of Episode III and setting up shows like Ahsoka and Skeleton Crew without really needing it.
This interconnectivity can make the Star Wars franchise's massive universe feel incredibly small. Why did Grogu have to have been in the building when Anakin flipped on the Jedi Council? Did audiences really need a band of unnamed pirates to show up just to tease another Disney+ show?
These are all questions that fans were left asking when Season 3 ended, making the show feel exhausting at times as it bounced from piece to piece of connective canon. This was especially the case in Mando Season 2, which introduced elements of this worrying interconnectivity.
The show would have ultimately felt more streamlined had it remained a largely self-contained story like Season 1, telling its own sweeping Star Wars tale without feeling like a vehicle for clever cameos and wonky launchpads for other projects.
