The Mandalorian is a huge cultural phenomenon thanks to Grogu and Din Djarin’s bond with each other. Now, with season 3 rumoured to premiere on 22nd February 2023, it looks like that bond will be further tested as Din Djarin will have to grapple with his identity as a Mandalorian and this will probably be a culmination of his arc!

The Mandalorian Season 3 To Be A Culmination Of Din Djarin’s Arc

Throughout the course of two seasons we have seen Grogu and Din sacrifice their set ways of life to be together. In season 2 we saw Grogu give up the Jedi way of life and forego training at Luke Skywalker’s academy. It was all because the Jedi master asked him to choose between the lightsaber and the Mandalorian armor. And Grogu chose the armor or rather Din Djarin.

The same is true for Din. When we first meet him in season 1, he rigidly follows the Mandalorian way of life. But Grogu coming into his life changes that. What was originally supposed to be just a job made him go against his guild and later on, he even took off his helmet, something that’s a big taboo in Mandalorian culture.

And the repercussions of that will be felt in season 3. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, director Rick Famuyiwa talked about mando and how he will have to deal with his decisions. He said:

“The exciting part about Mandalorian is that it started with this very simple and sort of elemental relationship when the Mandalorian met this young child and how it’s affected him. And I think all the decisions he’s made since coming in contact with The Child has sort of raised the stakes in terms of the storytelling of the show, and we’ve just been following that to sort of its natural place as he’s experienced meeting people outside of his own creed and understanding what it means to be a Mandalorian.”

He further clarified that it’s a culmination of his arc till now. He said:

“So as we get to season 3, it’s really a sort of culmination of that. We’ve started with our original Mandalorian but as the teaser said, he’s not the only one. And what does that mean? So this season is really about kind of bringing all that together.”

The Bo-Katan Problem Of Mando

Din Djarin’s problems aren’t stopping with Grogu or grappling with his self-identity. He also needs to deal with Bo-Katan, who is after the Darksaber, and this time wants to win it fairly. The trailer for The Mandalorian season 3 highlighted that she was going to be one of the major obstacles for Din this season as she too will struggle with what it means to be a real Mandalorian.

Katee Sackhoff, who plays Bo-Katan in the show, said in the same interview that:

“Coming into this season, Bo has some clear ideas about who she believes to be a real Mandalorian, and I think that is a really important place for her to start. She was raised one way, she thinks one very clear way, and her knowledge of that is being challenged.”

The actress also hinted that there will be growth for her character:

“One of the things about Bo that I love and we see a lot of this season is that she’s always growing and she’s always evolving. And I think that’s a really beautiful lesson.”

Multiple fan theories think that Bo-Katan will be a foil to Mando this upcoming season as both of them will grapple with the question of what it means to be a real Mandalorian. It remains to be seen how the story ultimately plays out and leads in season 4 which is rumoured to begin shooting early 2023.

Stay tuned for more updates.