What better way is there to prepare for season 3 of The Mandalorian (streaming on Disney+ on March 1) than with a chapter-by-chapter guide?
Assuming you can’t rewatch every episode, the answer is none. So, since you’re here, strap in and follow along as we start from the beginning.
Synopsis: Setting the Stage for the Mandalorian
Set five years after Return of the Jedi and the fall of the Empire — The Mandalorian follows Din Djarin, a lone Mandalorian bounty hunter operating in the Outer Rim. Hired by remnant Imperial forces to retrieve Grogu, a child of the same species as Yoda, Djarin instead goes on the run with the infant. Looking to reunite Grogu with his kind, the two are pursued by Moff Gideon, who wants to use Grogu’s connection to the Force for his own nefarious ends.
Season 1, Chapter 1: The Mandalorian
Din Djarin (Mandalorian, Mando) arrives on Nevarro to collect a bounty and meet with his guild handler, Greef Karga. After paying out, Karga alerts Mando that he has another client with an “off the books” assignment that’ll pay more than his usual job.
The client, short on details about the job and guarded by Stormtroopers, tells Djarin that he’ll pay in Beskar steel. The metal is sacred to Mando’s people, so this has his interest. Payment is contingent on bringing the target back alive.
Djarin is able to track the bounty to a desert planet. There he meets a farmer named Kuiil, who guides him to his bounty. The only problem: the area is heavily guarded. After a confrontation with a fellow bounty hunter (IG-11), the two team up to take out the opposition. When they find the bounty, IG-11 attempts to kill the target, only to be shot in the head by Mando.
The bounty is revealed to be a child of the same race as Jedi Master Yoda.
Season 1, Chapter 2: The Child
With the bounty (baby Yoda) in his possession, Djarin heads back to his ship but is waylaid by rival bounty hunters. Once he dispatches with them, he returns to his ship only to discover it’s been stripped by a group of Jawas.
Assisted by Kuiil, the Jawas are found and a deal negotiated. All of his stolen parts will be returned in exchange for an egg from a creature known as a mudhorn. As it turns out, the mudhorn is far stronger than Mando and would undoubtedly kill him were it not for the powers of baby Yoda. The child uses the Force to stun the mudhorn, which allows Djarin to kill it.
After giving the egg to the Jawas, he fixes his ship and sets off to Nevarro.
Season 1, Chapter 3: The Sin
Djarin returns to Nevarro and hands over the bounty for his payment. With the Beskar steel in hand, Mando goes underground to a secret lair where a Mandalorian armorer is located. The armorer crafts Mando a new set of armor, featuring a signet with a mudhorn.
Guilt-ridden despite the successful bounty, Djarin returns to the client. He raids the base and saves the child, but as they’re making an escape, they’re attacked by Greef Karga and a group of bounty hunters. During the ensuing conflict, Mando and the child are aided by a squadron of Mandalorians, allowing them to get away.
Season 1, Chapter 4: Sanctuary
Needing to hide out, Djarin lands on a forest planet called Sorgan. Upon arriving, he meets a former Rebel shock trooper by the name of Cara Dune. The two decide to team up and assist some fishermen in defending their village from raiders.
In the lead-up to the battle, Mando gets to know a widowed mother. He opens up to her, revealing that in keeping with Mandalorian tradition, he’s kept his face hidden since childhood. Feeling welcomed by the widow and her people, Djarin considers leaving baby Yoda with them.
His mind is changed, however, after Dune dispatches a guild bounty hunter who had tracked them to the planet. Keeping the child, Mando returns to his ship and the pair departs for locations unknown.
Season 1, Chapter 5: The Gunslinger
With his ship damaged in a dogfight, Mando lands on Tatooine. His intent is to find work and get his ship repaired, but he’s sidetracked by an aspiring bounty hunter, Toro Calican, who’s currently tracking an assassin known as Fennec Shand. Calican is looking for help.
The two end up capturing Shand, but the assassin lets slip that Mando is a far more appealing bounty, being worth more than the price on her head. Calican ends up shooting Shand, but the bounty hunter also takes baby Yoda hostage. Djarin doesn’t let that stand, killing the inexperienced hunter and using the hunter’s own credits to pay for his ship’s repairs.
After Mando and baby Yoda depart, a mysterious figure finds Shand’s body.
Season 1, Chapter 6: The Prisoner
Mando accepts a job from a friend named Ran. The assignment is to help a group of criminals break out an associate from a New Republic space prison. The group gets into the jail barge but is quickly detected by its security system.
While the group is able to free the associate (the brother of one of the crooks), the group ends up turning on Djarin and locking him in the cell. This, of course, is a mistake as Mando breaks himself out and then goes after each of the criminals one by one. In the end, he gets hold of the man the group was sent to free and takes him to the rendezvous point alone.
Handing the criminal over to his friend, Mando activates a tracking beacon, which draws X-Wing fighters to the base. Djarin does this because he knows his friend betrayed him. The base is destroyed after Mando escapes.
Season 1, Chapter 7: The Reckoning
Djarin is contacted by Greef Karga, who lets him know that the client he betrayed has taken revenge. The client’s forces have occupied his home town and Karga wants help in defeating him. If Mando does this, Karga promises, he’ll clear his name with the bounty hunter guild.
Djarin recruits help from Kuiil, Cara Dune, and a reprogrammed IG-11. Heading to Nevarro, they meet up with Karga and his men but are attacked by bat-like creatures. Karga is poisoned but is saved by baby Yoda. This causes a change of heart in Karga, who kills his own men and admits he was going to double-cross Mando.
United, the group goes to meet with the client, but he’s killed in an attack by Moff Gideon. Gideon also wants baby Yoda and has his men follow Kuiil back to Mando’s ship. There they kill Kuiil and take possession of the child.
Season 1, Chapter 8: Redemption
Just when everything seems lost, IG-11 saves the day. The droid first dispatches the scouts who had taken baby Yoda. Then it goes back to the village and helps Mando, Greef Karga, and Kara Dune fight off Moff Gideon.
During the rescue attempt, Djarin is injured and requires help from IG-11. The Mandalorian removes his helmet so the droid can provide medical care. After which, the two rejoin the fight. Having to continually fall back, the group eventually arrives underground and must use a river of lava to get away. In the escape, however, IG-11 is lost, sacrificing itself to take out an ambush of troopers.
Things only get worse when Gideon shows up in a TIE fighter, but Mando uses a recently acquired jet pack to fly around and take out the ship. After which, he and baby Yoda leave Nevarro.
The final scene is Gideon freeing himself from the TIE’s wreckage with a uniquely dark lightsaber.
Season 2, Chapter 9: The Marshal
The season opens with Djarin needing help in returning the child to his kind. Seeking other Mandalorians, Djarin follows a lead he obtained from the late Gor Koresh, a gangster who told Mando to go to Tatooine…right before he tried to backstab him.
Having eliminated that threat, Mando heads for Mos Pelgo and meets up with Cobb Vanth, who’s looking a lot like Boba Fett. Vanth isn’t the infamous bounty hunter, of course — he just appears the part because of the armor he’s wearing. Mando immediately takes offense. After all, only Mandalorians are allowed to wear it.
Vanth proposes a deal. He’ll give Djarin the armor if he’ll assist with the killing of a Krayt Dragon that’s been harassing the town. Mando agrees. He brings along Tusken Raiders that he befriends and the group goes off to kill the dragon. In the end, lives are lost, but the dragon is defeated.
In a parting shot, we’re given a closeup of a curious bystander watching the events unfold. It looks to be Boba Fett himself. The character is also likely the mysterious character from Chapter 5.
Season 2, Chapter 10: The Passenger
Still on the hunt for Mandalorians, Djarin agrees to a job that promises to get him closer. He must transport a Frog Lady to Trask, a moon where the lady’s husband will fertilize her eggs. Then, the husband will give Mando the information he needs.
The only hitch is that the trip must be done at sub-light speeds; otherwise, the eggs will be ruined. Of course, traveling at that speed leaves Mando open to attack or — as is the case — being detected by New Republic forces.
Evading X-Wings (because he was part of the prison break back in Chapter 6), Mando diverts to an icy planet. There Djarin runs into trouble when the ship sustains damage and Frog Lady goes for a hot springs dip in the middle of a Krykna spider lair. When the spiders attack, Mando must fall back to the cockpit, the only safe place. Just when all hope seems lost, the X-Wings that were following Mando show up and destroy the spiders.
While Mando is wanted for the prison escape, he’s only given a warning because of how he saved the life of a security guard and has been bringing in high-profile bounties for the Republic. Left to his own repairs, Mando is able to get the ship going and continues on his way to Trask.
Season 2, Chapter 11: The Heiress
Arriving on Trask, the Frog Lady is reunited with her husband. To their word, the husband informs Mando where he can meet up with some Mandalorians. Turns out the tip leads to a trap sprung on a Quarren fishing vessel. Thankfully, Mandalorians come to Djarin’s aid, led by Bo-Katan Kryze.
For their help, Bo-Katan asks Mando to reciprocate and assist them in liberating weapons from an Imperial ship. Mando agrees but soon discovers that in addition to the weapons, Bo-Katan wants the whole ship. His reluctance to go along leads Bo-Katan to explain that she’s trying to unite the warring Mandalorians and make her claim to the throne.
This background ties into Moff Gideon and the strange lightsaber he held (called the Darksaber). Bo-Katan needs to find it, but the captain of the Imperial ship sooner commits suicide than reveal anything about Gideon.
While that lead goes nowhere, Bo-Katan still helps Mando, telling him to go to Corvus. There he can find a Jedi — Ahsoka Tano.
Season 2, Chapter 12: The Siege
Wanting to get to Corvus, Djarin must first make an emergency stop on Nevarro to repair his ship. While there he meets up with Cara Dune and Greef Karga. The two have made progress on the planet, bringing peace and order to the hive of scum and villainy. The only problem is the nearby Imperial base and all its weaponry. It needs to be destroyed.
The plan is to enter the decommissioned base and deactivate the mechanisms that are holding back the natural flow of lava. That will destroy the base and also the clandestine work of Dr. Pershing, who has a laboratory there. The lab is revealed to contain experiments that were conducted using the blood of children with high Midichlorian counts.
Finding the base not as abandoned as they thought, the group must defeat Stormtroopers and evade danger on speeder bikes, but in the end, the outpost is destroyed, and Mando is able to get to Corvus.
Unbeknownst to him, an Imperial spy has placed a tracker on Mando’s ship, allowing Moff Gideon to follow.
Season 2, Chapter 13: The Jedi
Finally reaching Corvus, Djarin and the child enter the city of Calodan. There they find the population is living in fear of the city’s magistrate, Morgan Elsbeth, and her security team. They also discover that a certain Jedi is in the woods and is terrorizing the magistrate. Elsbeth, knowing that Mandalorians and Jedi are natural enemies, wants Mando to rid her of the threat. She offers a Beskar steel spear.
Mando has no intention of fighting the Jedi. Instead, he tracks down Ahsoka Tano and ultimately the two team up when he says Bo-Katan Kryze sent him. Ahsoka is intrigued by baby Yoda and tells Mando his name — Grogu. Ahsoka also indicates that she won’t train him, but she knows where Djarin can take him next, to an ancient temple on the planet Tython.
Meanwhile, the two storm the magistrate’s hold and fight off her security forces. Ahsoka comes face to face with Elsbeth and asks a question heard around the galaxy — “Where is Grand Admiral Thrawn?”
The mission is complete, which means Ahsoka and Mando part ways.
Season 2, Chapter 14: The Tragedy
Now at the old temple on Tython, Djarin takes Grogu to the “seeing stone” in the middle of the ruins. There Grogu reflects and is soon encased in a protective field of energy. As this happens, Boba Fett and a revived Fennec Shand arrive. Fett wants his armor back. In exchange, he and Shand will guarantee the well-being of Grogu.
This deal is immediately invoked when Stormtroopers arrive. The trio fights them off, but in the melee, other troopers get Grogu and take him to Moff Gideon’s cruiser. Before Mando can follow, his ship is destroyed. Relying on Fett, Djarin is taken to Nevarro where he meets up with Cara Dune. There he enlists her help in freeing the sharpshooter Migs Mayfield from a New Republic prison. (He was placed there for his part in the prison break in Chapter 6.)
Meanwhile, on the cruiser, Gideon encounters Grogu and shows the child the Darksaber. He also sends a message to Dr. Pershing that they have their donor.
Season 2, Chapter 15: The Believer
With Cara Dune’s help (her New Republic credentials), Djarin is able to have Migs Mayfield transferred. Migs, being an ex-Imperial, has knowledge that can help Mando track down Moff Gideon. To do that, though, requires them to get to an Imperial terminal. They find one on Morak, a mining hub. Unfortunately, the hub is well-protected.
Going undercover, Mando and Migs pretend to be Imperials. They take over a truck holding rhydonium, an expensive mineral, and manage to get it to the mining facility, despite being heavily attacked by local pirates.
Once inside, Migs obtains the coordinates to Gideon, but while there Mando has to go around without his helmet. It’s the first time he’s done so on screen. Things only get worse when Migs confronts a former commanding officer and shoots him, which starts a firefight requiring rescue. With the help of Dune, Boba Fett, and Fennec Shand, the pair get out.
It’s there that Dune releases Migs and Mando sends a transmission to Gideon, promising him that he’s going to get Grogu.
Season 2, Chapter 16: The Rescue
Djarin and Cara Dune board a shuttle carrying Dr. Pershing. They find out Grogu is still alive and still with Moff Gideon. Now having coordinates to his location, Mando realizes he needs more help. Invoking the support of Bo-Katan Kryze and Koska Reeves, he accedes to Bo-Katan’s demands. That she will get Gideon’s ship and the Darksaber. All he cares about is Grogu.
With Pershing’s help, they form a plan of attack. None of which goes right. Still, the groups of fighters gain access to the ship. Mando faces off against Gideon and disarms him, taking the Darksaber. He escorts the shackled off to the bridge. There Gideon engineers a debate between Djarin and Bo-Katan over the Darksaber’s true owner, hinting at a possible fight between the two. Meanwhile, trooper droids are closing in, and everything seems to be at its worst.
That’s when a lone X-Wing flies past, and we see the pilot is none other than Luke Skywalker comingto save the day. After an emotional sendoff, Mando agrees to let Luke take Grogu. The Mandalorian promises the child that he will see him again. Later on, Boba Fett and Fennec Shand take over Jabba’s Palace. Fett kills Bib Fortuna and claims the throne.
- THE GOOD
- THE BAD
- 10
- Essential
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