Summary
- The events of The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2, as well as The Book of Boba Fett season 1, all take place in the same year, 9 ABY.
- The fast pace of the show's timeline makes it hard to believe that all the changes and character developments happened within a year.
- Spreading out the events over a few years would have made the story more cohesive and would have allowed for more natural character growth and plot progression.
The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2 both take place in the same year, but the show's timeline shouldn't actually look like that. The first two seasons, which proved to be some of The Mandalorian's best, saw Din Djarin and Grogu travel across the galaxy to flee bounty hunters and find Jedi. Their journey took them to a wide variety of planets in the Outer Rim, from Nevarro to Trask and many others in between. They also got into a lot of trouble, including a krayt dragon and Imperial remnants. With all their activities and the changes in the surrounding galaxy, the duo had a busy year.
Star Wars: Timelines established The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2 and The Book of Boba Fett season 1 all take place in 9 ABY. This covers everything from Din first finding Grogu and discovering his identity all the way to Grogu choosing the Mandalorians over the Jedi. Greef Karga took control of Nevarro and Boba Fett took control of Jabba the Hutt's palace and territory. It seems there were many changes in 9 ABY, as the Outer Rim went through a huge transformation. Even Din's armor changed significantly, but those changes may have happened too quickly.
The Mandalorian: Din Djarin's Full Timeline, Backstory, & Star Wars Future Explained
The Mandalorian's Din Djarin has quickly become one of Star Wars' most iconic characters. Here's his full timeline, backstory, and future explained.Too Much Happens In The Mandalorian All In One Year
Din and Grogu had a lot of experiences in The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2. They traveled to dozens of planets, meaning the travel time alone would have filled most of the year, not to mention all the repairs to the Razor Crest. They also got into more fights than they could count. Between bounty hunters, gangsters, pirates, a mudhorn, knobby white ice spiders, a krayt dragon, and more, 9 ABY was a blur of battle for the two. They also formed deep connections and rivalries with a slew of new allies and enemies and that would have taken much longer to foster.
Star Wars: Timelines does not include season 3, though creator Jon Favreau has said there was a significant time gap before its beginning.
The Mandalorian's Big Changes Should Take Time
Over the course of the first two seasons, both Din and Grogu went through great changes. Din started as a man with only himself and his religion, and ended up as a father figure and central community member. Grogu started as a hostage and ended up as the newest Mandalorian protégé. These were colossal shifts in their personalities, and a time frame of less than a year makes those changes hard to believe. If the events of seasons 1 and 2 were more spread out, many of those developments would feel more natural.
Many of the plot points of the seasons make little sense in the span of one year as well. If Din and Grogu were only on the run for less than a few months, it seems hard to believe they would be desperate enough to take Greef Karga's offer (that was originally a trap). Many of the other characters' attitudes towards the pair also make little sense in the current timeline. Greef went from actively trying to kill Grogu to being enamored by him. Grogu's training with Luke would also have been incredibly short if it was jammed into the very end of an already overfilled year. His choice to rejoin Din feels rushed in the current canon timeline.
The galaxy itself also went through huge changes that would have taken more than a year's time. Greef's transformation of Nevarro's town would have made more sense, given the extent of his changes to the community. Between cleaning up the criminal elements of the city and converting the cantina into a school, Greef and Cara Dune had a large order to fill in so short a time. Even with their leadership skills, the logistics of the city's restoration after the battle with Moff Gideon and transformation would have taken more time. Boba's transformation of Tatooine similarly would have taken a long time, and having both in the same year is unlikely.
Star Wars: New Republic Timeline Explained
The New Republic Era is a brief period of galactic history, but it's vitally important to Star Wars. Here are all the key galactic events!What The Mandalorian's Timeline Should Actually Look Like
Early 9 ABY - when Din took the bounty puck from the Imperials - should still be the starting point. From there, the timeline should have been more spread out. The battle against Gideon on Nevarro would likely have taken place at the end of 9 ABY. This would have given Din and Grogu the necessary time to form their unique bond, grow weary of the pressure from the Bounty Hunters Guild and their life on the run, and meet all of their new allies. This timeline also would have made Din's choice of Grogu over the covert more potent, as the Children of the Watch would have been on the run for an extended period of time rather than simply switching locations.
Din would have taken the Armorer's advice to find a Jedi to train Grogu at the end of 9 ABY, pushing the beginning of season 2 and the pair's search for Jedi and Mandalorians into the border between 9 and 10 ABY. By the time they returned to Nevarro under Greef's rule, 10 ABY would have been well underway, giving Greef and Cara enough time to implement all of their changes. Grogu's capture and rescue would have rounded out the year at either the end of 10 ABY or the beginning of 11 ABY.
Similarly to the transformation of Nevarro, Boba's takeover of Jabba's territory would have taken a significant amount of time. Beginning just after Grogu's rescue, the events of The Book of Boba Fett would have lasted until at least the middle of 11 ABY, if not longer. This would have made Boba's takeover more believable and shown that the Pyke Syndicate was strong enough to resist Boba for longer than a few weeks. This also would have given Grogu more time to train with Luke, and made his choice to rejoin Din feel more sincere and informed.
The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2 and The Book of Boba Fett covered a lot of ground. The current canon timeline places everything that happened in them into one year, but with all of their adventures and the bond Din and Grogu created with each other, one year does not seem like a long enough time. Spreading out the events of the story of The Mandalorian to span a few years makes more sense and creates a more cohesive story for the father-son duo.
The Mandalorian
The Mandalorian is set after the Empire's fall and before the First Order's emergence in the ever-growing Star Wars universe. The series follows the travails of a lone gunfighter named Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) in the outer reaches of the galaxy, far from the authority of the New Republic. Acting as the first live-action Star Wars series, The Mandalorian has become incredibly popular on Disney+, partly due to Mando’s relationship with Grogu, which the internet dubbed “Baby Yoda” upon his introduction in season 1.
- Release Date
- November 12, 2019
- Cast
- Werner Herzog , Emily Swallow , Pedro Pascal , Nick Nolte , Omid Abtahi , Gina Carano , Carl Weathers , Giancarlo Esposito
- Seasons
- 3
- Story By
- Jon Favreau
- Writers
- Jon Favreau
- Streaming Service(s)
- Disney+
- Franchise(s)
- Star Wars
- Directors
- Jon Favreau , Taika Waititi , Bryce Dallas Howard
- Showrunner
- Jon Favreau