Is The Mandalorian before or after Boba Fett? When is it set and how does it cross over with the Star Wars movies? Our full guide reveals all…
It’s almost time for our favourite father figure in the galaxy to return in The Mandalorian season 3, but it can be a little confusing to keep up.
The third instalment of the show will catch up with Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu, AKA Baby Yoda, after they were torn apart in season 2 of The Mandalorian but reunited in an entirely different show – The Book of Boba Fett.
Not only will the new season of the Disney Plus show tie into its past seasons and Boba Fett, it will set up Ahsoka, which is coming later this year.
Even showrunner Jon Favreau has to work hard to keep track, revealing he’s already written season 4 of The Mandalorian so as he can be sure it fits in with all the other Star Wars shows coming out.
He told Variety: “Season 4, yeah I’ve written it already. We have to know where we’re going to tell a fully formed story. We had mapped it out, Dave [Filoni, writer] and I, and slowly you start to write each episode.
New character posters for #TheMandalorian and #Grogu, #BoKatan, and #GreefKarga have arrived.
— The Mandalorian (@themandalorian) February 22, 2023
The new season starts streaming March 1 on @DisneyPlus. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/0dCNLw9eVg
“I was writing it during post-production. All of it has to feel like a continuation and one full story.”
Before we get to see what he’s been working on, there’s plenty to come in The Mandalorian season 3, including a trip to Mandalore so as Djarin can repent for his “trangressions”, and Grogu using more of the Force than ever before.
But where exactly does The Mandalorian fit into the Star Wars timeline? And how do Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and even Andor fit around it?
Here’s our full guide and everything you need to know:
When is The Mandalorian season 3 set?
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Is The Mandalorian a prequel? Well, it’s a little complicated.
To put it in the simplest terms, The Mandalorian is set after the original Star Wars trilogy (AKA A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) but before the recent sequel trilogy (AKA The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker).
In The Mandalorian’s world, the Empire has been defeated, and the new Republic set up by the Rebel Alliance is taking charge – but some Imperial remnants are still at large and causing trouble for the series’s titular bounty-hunting hero.
Basically, The Mandalorian functions as a sequel to the story of Luke, Leia, Han Solo and Darth Vader, and as a prequel to the more modern movies.
Given that this time in the galaxy is relatively unexplored, there’s a lot of wiggle room for us to meet new characters and see some shocking twists.
As for the other Disney Plus shows? Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor are both set years before The Mandalorian, and before the original Star Wars film trilogy.
The Book of Boba Fett is set after The Mandalorian season 1 and season 2 but before season 3. The third instalment continues on from Mando and Grogu’s reunion in Boba Fett. This all comes after the original Star Wars trilogy.
Ahsoka is expected to take place around five years after Return of the Jedi – so around the same time as The Mandalorian and Boba Fett.
But if you want something more specific, well, we can give you more specific. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
The Mandalorian and the Star Wars timeline
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Within the canon of Star Wars, dates are a little different than our own. Generally speaking fans count years forwards and backwards from the original 1977 Star Wars film, specifically the Death Star assault at the film’s conclusion, aka the Battle of Yavin.
In other words, every Star Wars movie, book, spin-off game or TV show is either set a number of years before the Battle of Yavin (BBY) or after the Battle of Yavin (ABY).
So with that in mind, here’s how the Mandalorian fits in with the main movies and TV series. While some of these years are estimates, most are derived or deduced from official sources like the Star Wars Visual Dictionary series.
(For a full Star Wars movies order, check out our piece on the subject).
- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace – 32 BBY
- Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones – 22 BBY
- The Clone Wars movie and TV show – 22-19 BBY
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith – 19 BBY
- The Bad Batch – 19 BBY
- Solo: A Star Wars Story – around 10-13 BBY (estimated – Solo has never officially been confirmed within the Star Wars timeline)
- Obi-Wan Kenobi – 9 BBY
- Star Wars Rebels – 5 BBY-1BBY
- Andor – 5BBY-0BBY
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – 0 BBY (in other words, this film takes place the same year as the original 1977 Star Wars: A New Hope).
- Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope – 0 BBY/0 ABY (as the Battle of Yavin occurs during the film, this is a little confused)
- Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back – 3 ABY
- Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi – 4 ABY
- The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2 – 9 ABY
- The Book of Boba Fett – 9 ABY
- The Mandalorian season 3 – 9 ABY
- Ahsoka – 9 ABY
- Star Wars Resistance – 34 ABY
- Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens – 34 ABY
- Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi – 34 ABY (Clearly, a lot happened that year… It was the 2020 of the Star Wars universe.)
- Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker – 35 ABY
In simple terms, then, The Mandalorian is set about five years or so after the events of Return of the Jedi, the fall of the Empire and the rise of the new Republic.
It’s also set about 25 years before The Force Awakens, within a largely untouched piece of the Star Wars timeline that still allows a lot of wiggle room for Djarin and Grogu to have an awful lot of adventures before they start running into Finn, Poe, Rey et al.
Is The Mandalorian before or after Boba Fett?
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The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2 are set after the on-screen appearances of original Star Wars bounty hunter Boba Fett, who appears in Episodes V and VI of the original trilogy, but before his own series.
We then got some major crossovers in The Book of Boba Fett, which saw Grogu leave his Jedi training with Luke Skywalker, and reunite with Djarin for more adventures.
Season 3 of The Mandalorian will pick up after The Book of Boba Fett.
The Mandalorian season 3 arrives on Disney Plus on Wednesday 1st March, while seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream now. Sign up to Disney+ now for £7.99 per month or £79.90 for a full year.
Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide for more to watch.
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