The Mandalorian Season 3: Bo-Katan’s Darksaber Story Is Far From Over

The Mandalorian season 3 might be a ways away, with shooting reportedly set to begin later this year, but that’s not stopped fans from speculating what happened next after the second season’s cliffhanger. Grogu might have left with Luke Skywalker in the season 2 finale, possibly bringing the show’s Jedi mystery to a close, but Din Djarin, Bo-Katan, and their friends still have an Imperial remnant to take down.

Oh, and we can’t forget the Mandalorian drama between Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) and Din (Pedro Pascal) that was just beginning to simmer before Luke showed up to take down the dark troopers on the Imperial cruiser. Winning the Darksaber from the slimy Moff Gideon, Din unknowingly made himself the ruler of Mandalore at the end of the season, a position Bo-Katan had spent decades fighting to earn. Unfortunately for Din, the Darksaber can only be won in combat, which means that Bo-Katan would have to fight him for it, a tradition the titular Mandalorian doesn’t really understand considering he tried to simply offer it to her after taking it off Gideon. Bo-Katan wasn’t having that, though, and that’s bad news for Din, who now finds himself at the center of a Mandalorian power struggle.

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Will this fight for the right to rule the Mandalorian people be the focus of the upcoming season? At the very least, Sackhoff thinks its one of the directions The Mandalorian could go with her character.

“The way that Lucasfilm left me in season 2, one of the roads that could be gone down — absolutely, you’d think — would be the unfinished business,” Sackhoff told Slashfilm. “But that is so far above my pay grade, and you just don’t know, right? As a fan of the show, I’m just excited to see what they come up with.”

“Unfinished business,” indeed. There was never any doubt that Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan would return in season 3 after that cliffhanger, which left the future of Mandalore in limbo. Before Din won the Darksaber, Bo-Katan hoped to use the legendary weapon to rally what was left of her people and take back their home from the Empire. A reluctant Din even agreed to join Bo-Katan’s crusade in exchange for her help with rescuing Grogu from Gideon. But Din winning the sword throws a big wrench into all that. Technically, Bo-Katan and her clan have to now follow Din, who up until the finale wanted nothing to do with Mandalore, a planet his own tribe of extremist warriors had taught him was cursed. Now that he’s the one with the power, will he go back on his word?

Doubtful. While things will undoubtedly be a little tense between Din and Bo-Katan at the start of season 3, it seems unlikely that they’ll turn against each other, especially when Din is not even interested in ruling the Mandalorians (or even knows what’s going on most of the time). That said, showrunner Jon Favreau and executive producer Dave Filoni will have to find a way to resolve this storyline and set Bo-Katan back on her course to save Mandalore, a location fans have been waiting to see in live-action since the show premiered in 2019.

But how much longer will fans have to wait? While the third season was already in development as early as March 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic began, filming has been held up for a number of reasons, including the lockdowns that forced most studios to close their doors for a few months last year. Production was also delayed by a few other Star Wars shows in Lucasfilm’s pipeline, including Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and The Book of Boba Fett, which is reportedly meant to feel like “The Mandalorian season 2.5.” There’s also the fact that Pascal is currently busy filming HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us, in which he plays protagonist Joel.

Basically, don’t expect The Mandalorian season 3 until 2022, but when the show does return, you should expect to see what’s next for the fierce Bo-Katan. In the meantime, check out the complete schedule of Star Wars movies and TV series here.