9 Ways The Mandalorian Has Undone Its Own Story Over The Last 5 Years

Summary

  • Over the course of its three seasons and its spin-off TV show, The Mandalorian has undone much of its own story.
  • From IG-11’s revival to the Razor Crest’s return in the upcoming movie, many story elements have been reversed over time.
  • Some of these reversals have been or could be for the better, but others don’t make much sense to the overall story of The Mandalorian.



Despite its massive success as the first live-action Star Wars TV show, The Mandalorian has continuously undone elements of its story, and its upcoming The Mandalorian & Grogu movie is already continuing that trend. The Mandalorian has quickly become one of Star Wars’ most recognizable brands, with Din Djarin and Grogu now recognized as some of Star Wars’ best characters, but it has seemed to lose faith in itself after seasons 1 and 2. Those highly acclaimed seasons set a bar that was difficult to reach again, and in an effort to do so, puzzling choices were made.

It began in The Mandalorian‘s first spin-off TV show, The Book of Boba Fett, with its latter three episodes that focus primarily on Din Djarin and Grogu. This show was met with heavy criticism from Star Wars audiences, some of whom were upset with the story undoing parts of The Mandalorian season 2. Season 3 took things up a notch, and now it seems the movie is continuing this trend – as pointed out by peacemakervitus on X. Here are the 9 ways The Mandalorian has undone its own story so far, and why these choices may have been made.


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9 IG-11 Has Returned From The Dead

Reversed In: The Mandalorian Season 3, Episode 8 “Chapter 24: The Return”


IG-11’s sacrifice in The Mandalorian season 1 was a huge moment in the story, which made it utterly shocking when he returned in The Mandalorian season 3. As the first droid Din Djarin encounters in The Mandalorian, IG-11 helped to set the tone for Din’s character development, especially after he saved Din’s life in the season 1 finale. His selfless sacrifice to save Din Djarin, Grogu, and their allies is what helped to make Mando more open to droids in general, and despite having a statue in his honor on Nevarro, no one thought he would ever return.

That all changed in The Mandalorian season 3. IG’s revival was a process, beginning with a failed attempt by Din Djarin to revive him for spelunking on Mandalore. His body was then used as a mech suit for Grogu to pilot, though he was renamed as IG-12 by Greef Karga. The Mandalorian season 3 finale was when IG-11 fully returned as Nevarro’s marshal with the help of the Anzellans and a brand-new IG head. This choice seems to have been made to find a marshal replacement for Cara Dune, unfortunately undoing the impact of IG’s initial sacrifice in the process.


8 The Razor Crest Is Also Making Its Return

Reversed In: The Mandalorian & Grogu (Movie)

This more recent reveal of the Razor Crest‘s return in The Mandalorian & Grogu is a major surprise, especially considering that the movie is still so early on in production. The Razor Crest‘s destruction in The Mandalorian sesaon 2 was utterly devastating, especially since it happened after Din Djarin had finally repaired it from the various ways it had been put through the wringer. It was, however, also highly symbolic, given that it served as symbolism for the way Din’s life had changed after meeting Grogu, in that he was no longer the bounty hunter he used to be.

The minds behind The Mandalorian know that Din is going to need a ship for New Republic “bounty hunting,” and his N-1 starfighter simply won’t do.


Now, the Razor Crest has returned, according to The Mandalorian & Grogu footage description from D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event. This particular Razor Crest, however, isn’t confirmed to belong to Din Djarin and is unlikely the same exact ship seen in The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2, as it’s piloted by Star Wars Rebels hero Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios. Still, the intention behind this decision is clear: the minds behind The Mandalorian know that Din is going to need a ship for New Republic “bounty hunting,” and his N-1 starfighter simply won’t do.


7 Din Djarin’s Entire Covert Has Been Rebuilt

Reversed In: The Mandalorian Season 3, Episode 1 “Chapter 17: The Apostate”

Not much of Din Djarin’s faction, the Children of the Watch, was seen in The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2, but it’s made quite obvious in season 1 that those who were on Nevarro were the sole survivors from this faction after the Great Purge. This makes their sacrifice of revealing their presence on Nevarro to help Din and Grogu escape even more moving, especially once it’s revealed that many of them were later killed by Imperials, with only a small few managing to escape off-world – including Paz Vizsla. Their covert, however, didn’t seem very large to begin with.


This carried through in The Book of Boba Fett, when Paz Vizsla and the Armorer alone are seen rebuilding their covert from the ground-up on Glavis, but was completely changed in The Mandalorian season 3. With no indication of a large amount of time passing, the Armorer and Paz Vizsla were suddenly on a still-unnamed planet with an entire collection of Mandalorians that seemed to easily surpass the original numbers seen in season 1. It felt as if The Mandalorian realized it needed a covert to continue Mandalore’s story, and so they simply brought one into being.

Din Djarin and Bo-Katan Kryze stand behind Sabine Wren

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6 Grogu Has Left Jedi Training Behind (Again)

Reversed In: The Book of Boba Fett Episode 7 “Chapter 7: In the Name of Honor”


The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2 were both building up towards one key event: Grogu leaving Din Djarin to continue his Jedi training. This is precisely what happened, with Luke Skywalker sweeping in to take Grogu and train him as his first student at his Jedi Temple on Ossus. Some of this training was even seen in The Book of Boba Fett, though it didn’t last long. The timeline is uncertain as to exactly how long Grogu was with Luke before this point, but it all ended anyway when Luke made Grogu choose between Jedi training and Din Djarin.

Grogu, of course, chose the latter, which brought him right back to where he first started. Grogu is now a Mandalorian apprentice instad of a Jedi Padawan, learning under the tutelage of his adoptive father, which does feel fitting for this character and the bond he’s made with Mando. It also, however, makes the journey to reunite Grogu with the Jedi in seasons 1 and 2 feel somewhat pointless, since he ended up being back with Din before season 3 even happened.


5 Din Djarin Has Won & Lost Both The Beskar Spear & The Darksaber

Reversed In: The Book of Boba Fett Episode 5 “Chapter 5: Return of the Mandalorian” & The Mandalorian Season 3, Episode 6 “Chapter 22: Guns For Hire”

“Weapons are a part of my religion” was one of the most iconic lines Din Djarin uttered in The Mandalorian season 1, even once repeated in The Book of Boba Fett, which made his acquisition of both the beskar spear and the Darksaber seem highly significant. The former even managed to survive the destruction of the Razor Crest, and it served Din well in his duel against Moff Gideon. That fight also won him the Darksaber, providing him with two unique tools in his arsenal after losing the famed pulse rifle and the rest of his weapons with the Crest.


Din, however, didn’t hold on to either of these weapons for long. The beskar spear was melted down and made into armor for Grogu and other Mandalorians in The Book of Boba Fett after the Armorer revealed that it had been crafted specifically to puncture Mandalorian armor, and that was that. As for the Darksaber, Din seemed to care enough about the weapon to duel Paz Vizsla for it, but only used it two other mundane times in The Mandalorian season 3 before passing it along to Bo-Katan Kryze. This makes Din’s acquisition of these weapons feel utterly insignificant.


4 Moff Gideon Has Cheated Both Death & Imprisonment

Reversed In: The Mandalorian Season 2, Episode 4 “Chapter 12: The Siege” & The Mandalorian Season 3, Episode 7 “Chapter 23: The Spies”

Moff Gideon started out as one of Star Wars’ most interesting villains, with his mysterious appearance at the end of The Mandalorian season 1 building an exciting intrigue around his character. He was able to survive his TIE fighter crash in the season 1 finale, though this didn’t feel like too much of a stretch at the time. The more his story went on after that, however, the more glaring the mystery of his character and his motivations became. It was unclear whether Gideon was serving the Empire or himself, and though season 3 seemed to provide that answer, it arrived too late.


Gideon cheated death by surviving his TIE fighter’s crash, though not to a too extreme degree, but him escaping New Republic imprisonment felt like an unnecessary undoing of everything Din Djarin and his allies had done in the latter half of The Mandalorian season 2. To make matters worse, Gideon’s reappearance came with an entire secret base on Mandalore, a shiny new suit of beskar, and a bunch of Force-sensitive clones of himself, which completely missed the opportunity to have Gideon’s pursuit of Grogu fit into Project Necromancer. It unfortunately made Gideon feel anticlimactic as a character.

Bo-Katan Kryze, Din Djarin, Grogu, and Greef Karga.

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3 Din Djarin Is Going Back To Bounty Hunting

Reversed In: The Mandalorian Season 3, Episode 8 “Chapter 24: The Return”


The entire premise of The Mandalorian season 1, well before viewers even knew about the existence of Grogu, was that it was going to follow Din Djarin’s dangerous bounty hunting ventures through the galaxy’s Outer Rim. This, of course, changed when Grogu was revealed and Din made the decision to save Grogu, and over the course of both seasons 1 and 2, it became clear that Mando would, or at least could, leave behind his life as a bounty hunter in favor of something more fulfilling. The destruction of the Razor Crest only cemented and symbolized that further.

That left Din Djarin somewhat aimless throughout The Book of Boba Fett and season 3, seeing as bounty hunting didn’t work out well for him in the former and the latter saw him abandon it completely. The Mandalorian season 3’s ending, however, did the work to reestablish Din in his former position. Now, Mando is bounty hunting as an independent contractor for Carson Teva and his New Republic rangers, which will yet again see him back in his familiar role. This is, so far, a positive change, though it does still undo the work of the first two seasons.


2 Mando & Grogu’s Emotional Goodbye Has Not Lasted Long

Reversed In: The Book of Boba Fett Season 1, Episode 7 “Chapter 7: In the Name of Honor”

Din Djarin and Grogu’s goodbye in The Mandalorian season 2 finale is universally accepted as one of the most emotional moments in all of Star Wars, and certainly what should have been a closed chapter in this part of their story. It was expected that after this moment, when Din yet again sacrificed his Mandalorian Creed for Grogu by showing him his face, the two would be separated for quite some time, allowing viewers to see just how much the two needed one another before reuniting. This, however, was not the case.


The Mandalorian was not even the show to tell this story. Instead, The Book of Boba Fett showed where both Din Djarin and Grogu were at after either a few months or a year of separation, and neither were doing too well. Star Wars made the unfortunate decision to rush their reunion by bringing the two back together in this spin-off TV show, which many viewers have since argued was way too important of a thing to do in a show that wasn’t their own. This had a resounding impact on season 3, which made Din and Grogu feel aimless.

1 Din Djarin Is Restricted By His Helmet Rule Again

Reversed In: The Mandalorian Season 3, Episode 1 “Chapter 17: The Apostate”


Din Djarin’s helmet rule has been a hurdle in his story ever since the beginning. While it at first added to the mysterious appeal of his character, it quickly lost its charm, especially with Grogu having entered the picture. Viewers longed to see Din Djarin actor Pedro Pascal’s face and his expressiveness towards the foundling he would eventually go on to adopt as his own. So far, in the last 5 years since the show’s debut, Din’s face has only been seen on three occasions – and the most recent one was 4 years ago.

Audiences thought this would change when Din’s character in season 2 seemed to lean towards breaking free of his faction’s restrictive rules, especially after meeting Bo-Katan, who freely removes her helmet, but this wasn’t the case.


Audiences thought this would change when Din’s character in season 2 seemed to lean towards breaking free of his faction’s restrictive rules, especially after meeting Bo-Katan, who freely removes her helmet, but this wasn’t the case. Instead, Din confessed his “sin” of removing his helmet to the Armorer and was excommunicated from his tribe, which made him determined to earn his redemption by entering the Living Waters beneath the mines of Mandalore. Now, Din is sticking strong to his helmet rule once again, bringing his helmet arc back to where it first started in The Mandalorian season 1.