When does The Mandalorian take place?

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

Throughout his travels, Mando winds up finding a partner to tag along in the form of Grogu, best known by the nickname Baby Yoda. This duo is faced with an overarching plot by the empire to capture Grogu and harvest his force power.

With the conclusion of season two bringing back an iconic Jedi from the film franchise, some fans may be left wondering what could come next in season three. A factor that must be taken into account when predicting what’s next is when exactly the series takes place.

When is the Mandalorian set?

When the series picks up it is five years after the fall of the empire in 9 ABY. At this point, the empire has fallen and the resistance is beginning to restore order to the galaxy as the empire scrambles to regroup.

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

On the timeline of all Star Wars films, The Mandalorian slots in five years after the events of Return of the Jedi and 25 years before The Force Awakens.

Those who are up to date with the show may have put this together themselves given the multiple characters cameoing from the film series, but it does call to question the fate of the show’s characters given they don’t appear in later films.

While the second season’s conclusion did appear to close the door on some major characters crossing over into future films, it also gave us a lot to anticipate from Disney during The Mandalorian and future Star Wars-based series.

From the conclusion of The Book of Boba Fett, we know that The Mandalorian season three will pick up right after this series, meaning that it will also take place in 9 ABY. It isn’t clear how many seasons the show will run for and how far we will get into the timeline during its run.

With plenty of time to cover before the events of the following movies, we can expect there to be many new adventures for Mando and his associates to come, as well as the spin-off series that have been announced. The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka will both take place around the same time as the events of The Mandalorian.