When does ‘The Mandalorian’ take place in the ‘Star Wars’ timeline?

Disney Plus’s The Mandalorian explores some of the inner workings of crime and bounty hunter culture in the Star Wars universe. Many characters and cultures that were only briefly touched on in the movies get much larger roles during this series, including the Mandalorians themselves.

In the course of his travels, Mando recruits a tag-along named Grogu — though most viewers still refer to him as Baby Yoda. As a duo, Grogu and Din face down a plot to capture the young Grogu and harvest his Force powers for the Empire.

The series has become, over the course of three seasons, the next big thing in Star Wars. Its collecting fans from outside the fandom, alongside those who’ve followed it for decades, and paving the way for the future of the franchise. A few familiar faces have already cropped up in the ongoing series, some of them crossing over from other Star Wars shows, which begs a vital question: Just when in Star Wars canon does the story take place?

When is the Mandalorian set?

When The Mandalorian first begins it is five years after the fall of the empire in 9 ABY. By this point, the Empire has fallen and the resistance is beginning to restore order to the galaxy — even as the Empire scrambles to regroup.

The Star Wars timeline is largely oriented around the plot of A New Hope. In the first Star Wars film ever released, the resistance takes down the first iteration of the Death Star during the Battle of Yavin. At the conclusion of this battle the rebels emerging victorious, and initiate the ABY (After the Battle of Yavin) calendar.

This allows us to solidly determine where each of the Star Wars films, The Mandalorian, and all those other Star Wars offerings take place. In the case of Mandalorian, it takes place roughly five years after the events of Return of the Jedi and 25 years before The Force Awakens.

Those with a thorough knowledge of the Star Wars universe likely picked up on the general time at which Mandalorian takes place, thanks to those aforementioned cameos. Given the lack of any Din or Grogu in Star Wars releases that take place later in the timeline, however, many fans share concerns over the father/son duos’ fate. If they’re still alive during the events of later stories, why aren’t they featured?

There’s a simple answer to this question, of course, just not a canon one. The straightforward truth of the matter is that characters like Din weren’t thought up yet — or at least weren’t developed yet — when the plot lines and cameos for films like The Force Awakens were being planned. They couldn’t crop up, not because they’re dead, but because their time simply hadn’t come yet.

That’s not necessarily a cause for concern, thankfully, since so many future Star Wars releases are based in the same time period as Mandalorian. There’s plenty more Din and Grogu slated for the future, and they might even enjoy a cameo or two in sister series like Ahsoka.