Everything you should watch before ‘The Mandalorian’ season 3

It has been a while since we have seen a new season of The Mandalorian, with season two ending in 2020. Even though Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu have turned up elsewhere on Disney Plus, you can’t help but miss the fan-favorite characters. Season three of The Mandalorian has finally begun, and it is set to continue until around the middle of April. 

All of the usual characters are set to return, with Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff), the Armorer, and Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) all making appearances. The trailers for the season have focused on Mandalore and the Siege of Mandalore, so it might be worth going through everything you should probably watch to get the full context of where this season might go. Here’s everything you should watch before the third season of The Mandalorian. 

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

There might not be anything in Star Wars: The Clone Wars that will connect directly to season three of The Mandalorian. But, if you want background knowledge of Mandalorian culture, or more information on the history of the Darksaber and the pre-Empire wielder of the weapon, Pre Vizsla, as well as more stories surrounding Bo-Katan, you will want to watch The Clone Wars. Funnily enough, Pre Vizsla was voiced by Jon Favreau, the creator of The Mandalorian.

The Clone Wars ran for seven seasons, and it is an animated series that follows numerous individuals throughout the Clone Wars, with a particular focus on Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ahsoka Tano. You may be pressed for time, and therefore you might not want to watch every episode, even though the series is amazing. All the episodes with stories related to Mandalore are listed below.

• Season 2, Episode 12, “The Mandalore Plot”
• Season 2, Episode 13, “Voyage of Temptation”
• Season 2, Episode 14, “Duchess of Mandalore”
• Season 3, Episode 5, “Corruption”
• Season 3, Episode 6, “The Academy”
• Season 4, Episode 14, “A Friend in Need”
• Season 5, Episode 14, “Eminence”
• Season 5, Episode 15, “Shades of Reason”
• Season 5, Episode 16, “The Lawless”
• Season 7, Episode 7, “Dangerous Debt”
• Season 7, Episode 8, “Together Again”
• Season 7, Episode 9, “Old Friends Not Forgotten”
• Season 7, Episode 10, “The Phantom Apprentice”
• Season 7, Episode 11, “Shattered”
• Season 7, Episode 12, “Victory and Death”

Star Wars Rebels

You will also want to watch the other popular Star Wars animated series, Star Wars Rebels. This series follows a group of rebels made up of Ezra Bridger, Hera Syndulla, Kanan Jarrus, Zeb Orrelios, and Sabine Wren. Sabine was born in Mandalore, and she becomes one of the people who wield the Darksaber in Star Wars Rebels.

If anything, it might be more important to watch this rather than The Clone Wars because the events of Rebels lead almost directly into Bo-Katan’s appearance in The Mandalorian. Because Sabine appears in almost every episode, you might be better off watching the entire series, especially as it only ran for four seasons. If you do just want to see the events that either involve the Darksaber or Mandalore you will want to focus your attention on seasons three and four. 

The Mandalorian 

This is pretty self-explanatory as you will want to watch the first two seasons of the Disney Plus series before you watch the third. Watching seasons one and two of The Mandalorian will take you through the complete story of how Din and Grogu met, as well as how they met the returning characters we see in season three, like Bo-Katan. There are two seasons of eight episodes each so again, it shouldn’t take too long to watch.

The Book of Boba Fett

You will want to watch The Book of Boba Fett before watching the third season of The Mandalorian or else you won’t know how Din and Grogu come to reunite. It does also provide some context regarding Din’s ex-communication from the Children of the Watch as well. The Book of Boba Fett is only seven episodes long, one episode shorter than a season of The Mandalorian. But, if you don’t wish to watch it, you can read our explainer about what happened in the series here.

Zen – Grogu and Dust Bunnies

You can also watch the Studio Ghibli animated short called Zen – Grogu and Dust Bunnies, which is only a few minutes long and barely has any story. It is a fun short featuring everyone’s favorite, Grogu, and it did release prior to season three, so it’s worth three minutes of your time. 

That’s everything you should need to watch to be prepared for the third season of The Mandalorian. Of course, they could always throw in a surprise character from one of the other animated series or movies and then this list would obviously grow. But we’ll let you know if that is the case if it happens.

You can watch everything on this list and the new episodes of The Mandalorian on Disney Plus.