The Mandalorian Season 3 Ending Explained: Decoding the Climax to Pedro Pascal's Star Wars Series and What to Expect in the Next Season (SPOILER ALERT)

Season three of The Mandalorian ended with quite the whimper. A season where a lot didn’t happen, this episode was weirdly framed like the “series finale” even though you know that there is more to come. Not exactly sure what went wrong, but eight episodes later here we are, and we still don’t have any idea that was the ultimate point of all of this. The Mandalorian Season 3 Finale Review: Netizens Disappointed by the 'Rushed' Ending of Pedro Pascal's Star Wars Series, Call the Episode 'Unfulfilling'.

The Mandalorian Season Three mainly focused on the retaking of Mandalore, while Moff Gideon showed up at the end and just… conveniently died. There is not much to unpack here, however, the season has ended, and there is a bit to talk about. So, let’s dive deep into the season finale of The Mandalorian Season Three and discuss exactly what we can expect going forward.

Watch the Trailer:

The Ending

As previously mentioned, majority of this season focused on the retaking of Mandalore. While you might have expected a bit more plot setting up some new things going forward, that doesn’t exactly happen over here, rather the season just wraps up its few dangling threads at the end. The episode quickly picks up with us seeing the Mandalorians being ambushed by the Imperials, and Din Djarin being captured.

However, Din is successful in escaping with the help of Grogu and decides to take the fight to Moff Gideon and end everything once and for all. In that moment, Bo-Katan is busy making sure that the remaining of the Mandalorians are safe, and with the help of reinforcements, decides to fight off the Imperials as well.

The episode here reveals that Moff Gideon was actually developing clones of himself who had the ability to use the force, but Din, of course, destroys them and thwarts off his plans. A fight ensues, and Bo decides to help out Din while fending off Gideon. In the battle the Dark Saber gets destroyed, and the Imperial base explodes as a ship just crash lands into it. In the process, Moff Gideon is seen engulfed into the flames as well, while the Mandalorians celebrate.

A ceremony is held, and Din requests for Grogu to be accepted as his apprentice and as a Mandalorian. But since Din actually isn’t his father, Grogu can’t become a Mandalorian which prompts Din to adopt him as his own son. This is followed by the Great Forge of Mandalore being lit once again, and thus the retaking of the planet is successful.

The episode then sees Din becoming a bounty hunter once again and helping out the New Republic by hunting down Imperial Remnants. We then follow Din as he accepts Greef Karga’s proposal of having his own house on Nevarro, and the episode ends with him settling down on the planet with Grogu.

What to Expect Going Forward?

Well, if this ending is anything to go by, then it looks like Lucasfilm is right now preparing to keep The Mandalorian on the backburner for a while. The episode itself felt very definitive, and with the announcement of Ahsoka set to release soon as well, we can definitely expect some sort of story thread to be connected there. This season already confirmed the fact that Grand Admiral Thrawn of the empire is set to return, and it’s confirmed as well that he will be indeed returning in Ahsoka.

There is also the Mandoverse film by Dave Filoni that was recently announced at Star Wars Celebration, so of course, we can see any future seasons of The Mandalorian directly carry forward into that. The episode also hints at the Mythosaurus being awake, so their discovery by the Mandalorians can be touched upon in the future seasons. When those future seasons will come though remains to be seen. And there is of course the big one: Empire is into cloning now.

One of the biggest plot points in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was that Snoke was actually cloned multiple times by Palpatine himself. And with The Mandalorian introducing cloning, we can of course expect this to directly lead into those plot points. Whatever it may be, we can sure that we can see that set up at least return in Ahsoka.

Overall, however, this was a disappointing season of television. It was rather shallow and rushed, to the point that even coming up for points with this episode was a task. Nothing worthwhile happened here, and I just wish it had a more concrete storyline. Lot of it felt like filler, and it reminded me of the worst parts of The Book of Boba Fett. Here is hoping that Lucasfilm course corrects in the future. The Mandalorian Season 3 Premiere Review: Pedro Pascal’s Star Wars Series Makes an Underwhelming Return with a Filler Episode (LatestLY Exclusive).

The Mandalorian Season Three is streaming right now on Disney+ Hotstar.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 19, 2023 03:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).