It’s almost The Mandalorian Season 3 time (I say while vibrating at a frequency that could shatter glass). And that’s mostly because the only thing that can console me from seeing Pedro Pascal fathering a child with unique powers in a grim, post-apocalyptic world is seeing Pedro Pascal fathering a child with unique powers while hyperspace-jumping from one corner of the galaxy far far away to the other.
All jokes aside, The Mandalorian is undoubtedly one of the most popular stories in the Star Wars franchise and the hype is growing every day that brings us closer to the release date of Season 3, which will be on March 1.
In true Disney fashion, the information released about what will happen in the upcoming season has been sparse—with actors themselves being pretty tight-lipped about it and just a couple of trailers and clips to give an idea of what the best father-son duo in the galaxy will be up to in the eight episodes ahead of us. Still, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t clues to be found around the Internet.
The IMDb “Full Cast & Crew” page for The Mandalorian, for example, might be able to shed some light on what characters Mando will meet again as the show starts again—so let’s have a look together.
Every Star Wars character returning in The Mandalorian Season 3
Let’s start with Mando himself—even though it almost goes without saying that he will be in all eight episodes that will make up Season 3, with established Mandalorian foundling Grogu in tow.
The trailer shows the pair traveling through the galaxy on Mando’s new ship, which he put back together on Tatooine with the help of Amy Sedaris’s Peli (who is scheduled to return in the new season as well)—and we know that one of the places they’ll stop to will have to be Mandalore if Mando wants to redeem himself for having removed his helmet in front of Grogu at the end of Season 2.
Other Mandalorians will also make their appearance in the new season, as confirmed by a promotional poster released on the show’s official Instagram page. Kate Sackhoff and Emily Swallow will reprise their roles as Bo-Katan Kryze and the Armorer, which probably means that Bo-Katan’s companions Koska Reeves (played by Mercedes Varnado) and Axe Woves (played by Simon Kassianides) might also make an appearance.
The poster also showed Paz Vizsla, played by Tait Fletcher and voiced by Jon Favreau—is there a chance that either he or Bo-Katan will go after Mando and his Darksaber? We know that they would both very much like to put their hands on it, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
Carl Weathers will also reprise his role as Green Karga and appear in seemingly all eight episodes, and IMDb lists a Season 3 appearance for Giancarlo Esposito as well—meaning that we haven’t heard the last from Moff Gideon, as could be expected. Along with him, there will be Omid Abtahi’s Dr Pershing, so maybe the saga of all these ex-Imperials being after Grogu’s Force-sensitive blood isn’t over just yet.
New Republic pilot Carson Teva (played by Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) will also come back in the new episodes meaning that we might see his companion, Dave Filoni’s Trapper Wolf, as well.
Then there are some staple The Mandalorian characters who haven’t been confirmed as returning in Season 3 but from whom we might expect an appearance, considering how important and beloved they are—Boba Fett and Fennec Shand (played by Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen respectively) first of all.
Sure, they are the leads of The Book of Boba Fett now but considering that Mando made an appearance there and that there appears to be a mandatory Tatooine visit in every The Mandalorian season, the odds are looking pretty good.
Speaking of Tatooine, we also know that Timothy Olyphant’s Cobb Vanth survived the duel with Cad Bane he had in The Book of Boba Fett—so if Mando does indeed end up landing under the planet’s binary suns we might also end up knowing how the marshal has been holding up since then.
We know that Grogu has decided not to become Luke Skywalker’s padawan, but that doesn’t mean we have to say goodbye to him and Ahsoka Tano—they are both pretty key characters in this era of the galaxy far far away and there’s no reason for why their paths shouldn’t cross with those of Din and Grogu once more.
All that’s left now is waiting for March to come around. In the meantime, you’ll find me watching and rewatching the clip of Grogu using the Force to spin his chair around, shown during Pedro Pascal’s interview on the Late Night with Seth Meyers show on February 16. How is it that little green thingie gets cuter with every season, I just can’t explain it.
(featured image: Disney Plus)
