Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for The Mandalorian season 3, episodes 1 and 2.
Though Jon Favreau’s recent comments regarding The Mandalorian’s timeline have been quite shocking, season 3 might actually be proving his point. Recently, the internet was taken by storm when The Mandalorian creator explained just how much time had passed between The Mandalorian season 2 finale and The Book of Boba Fett. According to Favreau, Grogu trained with Luke Skywalker for upwards of two years. This seems to contradict everything viewers saw on screen, however, prompting questions like why it took so long for Mando to find his covert, and why Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Temple was only just being built when Din went to visit Grogu.
It was previously believed that The Mandalorian season 3 would take place 3 years after the events of season 1, making Grogu 53 years old. With Favreau’s added time jump, Grogu is now roughly 55, Dr. Pershing and Moff Gideon have been New Republic prisoners for years, and the Imperial Outer Rim presence will have grown exponentially. The Mandalorian’s spinoffs will undoubtedly be impacted as well – how long does it take Sabine Wren and Ahsoka Tano to track down Thrawn and Ezra Bridger, given Star Wars Rebels’ epilogue takes place just after Return of the Jedi? And yet, despite the confusion, a few scenes from The Mandalorian season 3’s first two episodes do support Favreau’s bold claim.
The Mandalorian Season 3’s Improvements To Nevarro Suggest Time Has Passed
When Mando and Grogu visit Nevarro in The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1 “Chapter 17 – The Apostate,” the planet is unrecognizable. People are thriving, the town looks better than ever before, business is booming, and Greef Karga is now the High Magistrate and sporting a rather grand new robe. Mando himself comments on how much the town has changed as he sees kids playing in the streets. Despite the improvements that Nevarro showed in The Mandalorian season 2 compared to what it was like in The Mandalorian season 1, the transformation that has happened now is beyond impressive.
The changes to Nevarro as shown in The Mandalorian season 3’s premiere could only have happened if there was a solid amount of time between Din’s visits – and two years seems like a good answer. Perhaps Mando’s trip to Nevarro, despite not really amounting to anything, was Favreau’s way of explaining to audiences how much time had passed between The Mandalorian seasons 2 and 3 without having to spell it out in an infodump. It’s an effective strategy and certainly goes some way to prove Favreau’s bold timeline claims.
Din Djarin Doesn’t Seem To Have Seen Peli Motto For Quite Some Time
The Mandalorian season 3, episode 2 “Chapter 18 – The Mines of Mandalore” also provides proof for Favreau’s Mandoverse timeline claim, though this one is a bit more abstract. At the beginning of the episode, Din and Grogu pay a visit to Peli Motto on Tatooine. Though their interaction doesn’t indicate an exact passage of time, their conversation can lead one to believe that it’s been a while since they’ve seen each other. Peli comments on how well the Mandalorian’s N-1 Starfighter still runs, she’s surprised when Grogu makes a fantastic leap toward her from the ship’s cockpit, and is equally surprised when Grogu babbles incoherently, making more noise than she’s likely ever heard from him before.
Though the scene with Peli and Din doesn’t provide concrete proof the same way Mando’s visit to Nevarro does, it does indicate that perhaps Favreau knew what he was doing, and used these particular scenes to indicate the substantial passage of time between The Mandalorian season 2 finale and season 3. There are likely more scenes like this to come – perhaps the Armorer will reference how long it’s been since Din was exiled from the covert when the Mandalorian brings news of his trip to Mandalore, for instance. Though this evidence is convincing, if Favreau wants his timeline claim for The Mandalorian to hold up, there’s still quite a bit of work to do.
New episodes of The Mandalorian premiere Wednesdays on Disney+.