By Josh Reilly B. & George Bate
The Mandalorian Season 2 concluded a 16-episode arc revolving around protecting young Grogu and delivering him to his people. Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin handed his de facto son over to the legendary Jedi Luke Skywalker, marking an end (of sorts) to the touching father-son relationship at the core of the series. Most Star Wars fans anticipated that Mando and Grogu would be reunited at some point, but few thought it would be as soon as the season finale of The Book of Boba Fett.
Just a few weeks away from the premiere of The Mandalorian Season 3, Jon Favreau recently sat down with Empire Magazine to discuss interesting topics related to everyone’s favorite galaxy-journeying father-son duo and addressed why Grogu and Mando reunited had to reunite in The Book of Boba Fett ahead of The Mandalorian’s third season.
Favreau told Empire, “We couldn’t just hit a hard reset. It’s going to be interesting to see how this unfolds for people who may not have seen The Book Of Boba Fett. But I think The Book Of Boba Fett offered time to pass. You saw what Mando was like without Baby Yoda and we saw what Grogu was like without the Mandalorian and neither of them was doing too good. So them coming back together was a really good plot point that allows us to jump back into Season 3 while maintaining the central relationship.”
Favreau also spoke about the careful balance required to address Grogu’s conflict between choosing the path of a Jedi and the path of a Mandalorian. “I think you had to service both things,” Favreau stated. “Just because this kid has the potential and had training, does he belong away from the Mandalorian? I saw it more like Paper Moon, where the whole thing is about delivering the kid to the blood relative, only to realize that, whether genetically through her father or just through bonding, Tatum O’Neal has to end up with Ryan O’Neal. That ending feels really good to me. And this little kid [Grogu] is given a decision to choose. And the kid chooses the emotional relationship and wants to be with the Mandalorian, and passing up Yoda’s lightsaber. Part of you wants to see him develop in that way, and part the other.”
Sections of Favreau’s interview with Empire Magazine can be read here.
The Mandalorian Season 3 premieres March 1 on Disney+.