What The Mandalorian Season 3 Could Have Looked Like Without The Book Of Boba Fett

The Book of Boba Fett fell under criticism for the way it heavily set up the future of The Mandalorian, which greatly contributed to the mixed reviews season 3 received. Halfway through The Book of Boba Fett season 1 is when Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin makes his triumphant return, though his story ends up dominating the storytelling space of Temuera Morrison’s Boba Fett in a way that sees the titular character receive a whopping two minutes of screen time between two entire episodes. This not only negatively affected viewers’ outlook on The Book of Boba Fett, but it also set up The Mandalorian season 3 for failure – especially for those who hadn’t seen the spin-off series first.

Din’s excommunication from his Mandalorian tribe and his reunion with Grogu are both massive story developments many viewers thought The Mandalorian season 3 would cover, but instead, The Book of Boba Fett completes that work. Both of these series would have greatly benefited from keeping those important events in The Mandalorian season 3, and it could have been done without having to remove Din’s cameo from the spin-off series whatsoever. If Mando had only helped his friends on Tatooine in the Battle of Mos Espa and saved everything else for his own show, this is what The Mandalorian season 3 could have looked like.

8 Din Djarin’s Glavis Job & The N-1 Starfighter

Season 3, Episode 1

The Mandalorian season 3 opens with the same first scene as The Book of Boba Fett season 1, episode 5, with Din hunting Kaba Baiz and taking out him and his men. Din sustains his Darksaber injury, but instead of getting medical attention from his tribe, he has to take care of it himself – emphasizing his loneliness. The client he works with gives him information about the covert’s new planet seen in season 3 rather than any place on the Glavis Ringworld, and afterward, Din makes his journey to Tatooine to work on the N-1 starfighter with Peli Motto before taking off for his covert’s new home.

This opening is perfect for The Mandalorian season 3, as it establishes the overall darker tone of the season straightaway with Din’s scrappy fight. The utterance of his infamous “I can bring you in warm, or I can bring you in cold” line is also a perfect echo to the opening of The Mandalorian season 1. His Darksaber injury foreshadows him ultimately losing the weapon later on in the season, and healing it himself allows for viewers to see more of his lonely struggle.

7 Din Djarin Is Turned Away By His Covert & The Jedi

Season 3, Episode 2

With his N-1 starfighter now in tow, Din arrives on the planet where his covert is residing, and he tells the Armorer about the Darksaber. She recounts its history just as she had in The Book of Boba Fett and does the same with Bo-Katan Kryze’s past while forging the beskar spear into chainmail for Grogu. Afterward, she tries training Din with the Darksaber, leading to Paz Vizsla’s challenge for the weapon. Din winning the duel results in his excommunication, and he heads to visit Grogu on Ossus, clinging to the hope of at least having his foundling – just to be turned away by Ahsoka Tano. Grogu’s training is also shown to emphasize his own loneliness, directly followed by Luke forcing him to choose between Din and the Jedi.

Taking Din directly to the covert’s new planet makes more sense than having him stop at the makeshift forge the Armorer and Paz had on the Glavis Ringworld, and it also reveals why he’s able to find it so easily after he’s excommunicated. Having Din’s secret aired out in front of more Mandalorians also makes it even more devastating for him, especially if it’s directly followed by his inability to visit Grogu on Ossus. Grogu’s halfhearted training puts him in a similar position to Din, creating meaningful conflict for both of them.

6 Din And Grogu At Last Reunite For A Daring Quest

Season 3, Episode 3

The narrative shifts back to Din at the beginning of this episode, who has since gone to Nevarro to acquire IG-11 from Greef Karga. He helps his friend with his pirate problem and kindly refuses Greef’s offer of a parcel and a job as marshal. After attempting, and failing, to bring IG-11 back on his own, Greef helps Din hand the droid over to the Anzellans before he takes off for Kalevala. He reaches the planet after escaping Gorian Shard and his snubfighters, only to be met with Bo-Katan’s hopelessness for retaking Mandalore and her sharp jabs about him possessing the Darksaber. Din returns to Tatooine for a tune-up just as R2-D2 pilots Grogu there in Luke’s X-wing, allowing for a perfect reunion before Din’s quest begins.

Removing Din’s return to the Mandalorian covert with the artifact from Mandalore avoids the redundancy of the Armorer questing him to the Living Waters once again, and it also advances the plot as originally seen in The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1. Grogu reuniting with Din on Tatooine just before his quest allows them to have a more meaningful reunion, one that isn’t rushed by their current circumstances. It also pushes Din’s redemptive quest to Mandalore further back, both building anticipation and rounding out his character arc.

5 Bo-Katan And Din Earn Redemption On Mandalore

Season 3, Episode 4

Now that Din and Grogu are reunited and R5-D4 is acquired, the little one puts on a brave face for Din’s redemptive quest on Mandalore. R5 checks the atmosphere, but when he’s knocked over by a group of Alamites, Din comes to his rescue with the Darksaber – which he still struggles to wield. Once the atmosphere is confirmed to be breathable, Din and Grogu head down to the mines, where Din’s apprehended by a cyborg. He urges Grogu to get Bo-Katan, and the two return to rescue Din, which sees Bo-Katan accidentally and unknowingly winning the Darksaber. She also rescues Din from the Living Waters, where she sees the Mythosaur staring back at her.

This takes the wonderful story seen in The Mandalorian season 3, episode 2 and focuses it entirely on Mandalore, as opposed to starting on Tatooine. Rather than having his quest completed in the second episode of the season, Din only earns redemption halfway through, causing his arc to be less anticlimactic. It also evens out the pacing of this part of the season, as it forces the next few episodes to move much faster than they did originally.

4 The Mandalorian Covert & Foundling Rescue

Season 3, Episode 5

Din, Bo-Katan, and Grogu make their way off Mandalore, but they’re quickly pursued by TIE interceptors. Bo-Katan takes Din to his N-1 starfighter to provide backup, and the two stave off the TIEs – just for bombers to come through and destroy Bo-Katan’s castle. With more incoming, Din takes Bo-Katan with him to his covert’s planet, where both he and Bo-Katan are redeemed in the eyes of the Armorer and the covert. Redeemed but still struggling for identity, Din focuses on advancing Grogu’s Mandalorian training, which is interrupted by the abduction of Ragnar Vizsla. Bo-Katan leads the effort to rescue the foundling and earns the covert’s trust, while Grogu gets his new rondel of beskar armor.

Allowing Din’s and Bo-Katan’s redemption in the eyes of the covert to happen in the same episode as the foundling’s rescue keeps all redemptive stories together, emphasizing Bo-Katan’s rise to becoming Mandalore’s leader once again while also highlighting Din’s lost identity now that he has everything he once thought he wanted. It’s a greater shift towards the reclamation of Mandalore with a hint towards where Din’s and Grogu’s story will be headed in season 4. It also keeps a thematic thread of home tied throughout the episode, as Bo-Katan goes from losing her lonely Kalevala castle to earning a new family amongst the Children of the Watch.

3 The Siege of Nevarro & Gaining New Allies

Season 3, Episode 6

With Nevarro under siege by pirates, Captain Carson Teva finds Din at the Mandalorian covert to pass on Greef Karga’s message for help. Din, refusing to turn his back on his friend, urges the Mandalorians to at long last reveal themselves and help him and Bo-Katan save Nevarro. The covert then comes to Nevarro’s rescue, with Din and Bo-Katan handling Gorian Shard’s Corsair while the rest of the Mandalorians fight on foot. At the conclusion of the battle, Greef gives the Mandalorians a tract of land near Bulloch Canyon, and the Armorer tells Bo-Katan it’s time for her to lead the effort to reclaim Mandalore. She has Din and Grogu accompany her to Plazir-15, where she duels Axe Woves and finally earns the Darksaber from Din to win their allies over.

Having Nevarro’s siege in the same episode as Bo-Katan’s acquisition of the Darksaber emphasizes her leadership role, while also showing Din’s personal emphasis on helping his friends above all else. While the droid investigation on Plazir-15 is certainly a fun adventure, it’s best to set that aside for a different occasion in favor of advancing the Mandalore plot. This also makes for an action-packed third act, taking viewers directly into the two-part finale focusing on the reclamation of Mandalore.

2 The Reclamation Of Mandalore Begins

Season 3, Episode 7

The fleet Bo-Katan had once collected arrives on Nevarro, where Din’s covert and Bo-Katan’s allies meet for the first time. Greef gifts Din with a bottle of Coruscant wine and Grogu’s IG-12 mech suit, which Din begrudgingly agrees to Grogu having. Bo-Katan takes a group of Mandalorians to scout the surface of the planet while the fleet waits in orbit, and they come across a group of survivors. They took the Mandalorians to their langskib, where Bo-Katan confesses the truth about Moff Gideon’s betrayal during the Night of a Thousand Tears. Tensions are high between the Mandalorians until they have to unite in the face of danger, but they get led into a trap set by Gideon and his Imperial Super Commandos. Paz sacrifices himself to help them get away, and Din’s captured by Gideon’s men.

This episode stays exactly the same, but with the inclusion of story elements from The Book of Boba Fett, it takes on even more emotional weight. Din’s capture forces him and Grogu apart for the first time since their reunion, and Paz’s arc gets fully rounded out from a Mandalorian defeated in a petty duel to a Mandalorian sacrificing his life to save others. The penultimate episode and part one of the finale feels more like a culmination of what’s been brewing all season, beginning the process of tying story threads together that part two of the finale will finish.

1 Mandalore’s Liberation & An Apprentice Emerges

Season 3, Episode 8

Grogu helps Din free himself from the Imperial Super Commandos, and the two of them prepare to take out Moff Gideon. Meanwhile, Bo-Katan leads her people to safety, with Axe Woves on his way to warn the fleet. Din, now weaponless, picks up a jetpack and two blasters from fallen Super Commandos while he fights his way through them. Moff Gideon is ready for Din and Grogu when they arrive, just as Bo-Katan flies in with a full array of Mandalorian forces. Gideon and Din duel until Bo-Katan takes over for him, allowing Din to help Grogu defeat the Praetorian Guard. The duo then helps Bo-Katan take on Gideon, who dies in an explosion – liberating Mandalore and setting Din and Grogu on their new path.

This episode is also staying the same, but its meaning has changed drastically. Grogu’s fight against the Praetorian Guard is a perfect blend of the Jedi training seen earlier in the season and his Mandalorian training, setting him up to be deemed as Din’s official apprentice and adopted son. Bo-Katan’s utterance of “Mandalorians are stronger together” creates a beautiful resolution to the loneliness that starts the season off, completing Din’s arc of being on his own to having an entire nation of Mandalorians behind him. All of these changes keep a perfect focus on Din and Grogu while also telling Bo-Katan’s and Mandalore’s story, with the themes of unity and accepting change taking Din and Grogu into their The Mandalorian season 4 adventure.