Does Moff Gideon finally get defeated? Will Grogu at long last be promoted to Mandolorian
apprentice? And what can we expect for season 4? You've got questions about the season 3 ending
of The Mandalorian. We've got answers. For most of The Mandalorian Season 3,
the endgame is clear. Finally, after multiple seasons and decades of in-universe oppression
under the Empire, the Mandalorians are ready to retake their home. At the beginning of the show,
Din shows little interest in the idea of restoring Mandalore, but that's fitting for the show. While
Din and Grogu are still central, Bo-Katan has gradually become a co-star along with them.
By throwing her into the spotlight, Season 3 brings in storylines that have been running
since The Clone Wars. This history makes the season finale all the more impactful.
Thanks to a combined force of Bo-Katan's old mercenaries, the Children of the Watch,
and a few Mandalorians who were abandoned on Mandalore, Moff Gideon falls. His army
of stormtroopers cosplaying as Mandalorians is defeated, as are his Elite Praetorian Guards.
Amid the destruction of his base, the finale offers hope for a bright future on Mandalore.
The world's once lush landscape is glimpsed in underground cave gardens. At long last,
the clans are united in a glorious mission to heal, not to conquer.
For Bo-Katan, rebuilding a society that's been devastated by eons of
war is definitely not going to be easy. But it truly feels like the Mandalorians can do
it this time — they can forge a new future for themselves and their descendants.
Moff Gideon's delusional self-importance has stood in opposition to the Mandalorian people
since Season 1. He's the ultimate colonialist: a man so infatuated with the idea of empire that
he dresses up in a store-bought Darth Vader Halloween costume to make himself feel tall.
We've known since Season 1 that Mandalore was a pet project for Gideon. We know that he fancies
himself a superior version of the Mandalorian warrior, even though his only maxed-out skills
are monologuing and Zoom calls. By the end of The Mandalorian Season 3, Gideon's
delusions of grandeur catch up to him — but not before he makes an absolute fool of himself.
"Mandalorians are weak, once they lose their trinkets."
Creating an army of Force-sensitive super soldiers equipped with Mandalorian weaponry?
Not a bad plan. But when you use yourself — a middle-aged middle manager, in Gideon's case — as
the template, it starts to fall apart. Where Palpatine represents the power-hungry evil of
empire and Vader represents those it corrupts, Gideon represents the sad, desperate rubes who
sell their souls for a lie of significance. In short, Gideon embodies the myth that colonial
empire sells to its agents: that you are both capable and deserving of becoming an emperor unto
yourself if you stand on the shoulders of someone else's culture. So, it's apt, then, that Gideon's
world comes crashing down on him, manifested in the form of a flaming Imperial light cruiser.
The Mandalorians are stronger than Gideon and his stormtroopers. They're more skilled,
better trained, and more dedicated. These facts have never been in doubt,
but they also haven't led to many wins in the past. The Empire has numbers, money, and beskar.
Bo-Katan leads her united Mandalorian front to victory at the end of Season 3,
and it's that unity that's the key. All the skill and knee rockets in the world
won't prevail if infighting persists. At least, that's the message that The
Mandalorian tries to drive home. Bo says it herself while facing off against Gideon:
"Mandalorians are stronger together."
This isn't just a commentary on their past division in the show,
but across all of the Star Wars canon. Dave Filoni's modern Mandalorian saga
began in January of 2010 with the Clone Wars episode "The Mandalore Plot." If you've been
following the story since then, it's been a long journey. Civil wars led to a peaceful government,
which was dismantled by terrorist attacks and political corruption. The planet was taken
over by crime syndicates and renegade Sith, then thrown under the fist of the Empire.
For so long, the Mandalorians have battled one another and suffered the consequences.
But in the Mandalorian Season 3 finale, it's their cooperation and shared vision
that ultimately leads them to victory. Even in the final duel against Moff Gideon himself,
it takes the combined efforts of Bo-Katan, Din, and Grogu to finish him off. That's not a mark
of Gideon's superior power, but rather a mark of just how strong unity can be.
Since Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the Darksaber has been at the center of the Mandalorian story.
Only a successful fight to the death can earn someone the ancient weapon, and only its power
can unite the clans ... according to some. In reality, the black blade has been more of a
curse since it was introduced in The Clone Wars. Darth Maul uses it to kill Duchess Satine Kryze,
Moff Gideon uses it to oppress the Mandalorian people, and Bo-Katan's lack of claim to the
sword erodes her reputation with her followers. So maybe it's for the best,
and a little bit fitting, that the Darksaber is destroyed in the climactic battle with Gideon.
Perhaps, as Bo-Katan has repeatedly suggested, rules that force Mandalorians to kill each other
aren't rules worth following. Perhaps the Darksaber didn't represent the strength of
Mandalore, but the weakness of its people's unending desire for bloodshed. By destroying
the weapon, Gideon may have actually set the Mandalorians free. It's a new era
now — one where the possession of an ancient relic won't determine who's fit to rule.
Watching Grogu learn more about himself and the galaxy has always been a high point of
The Mandalorian. He demonstrates just how far he's come in the final battle on Mandalore,
in which he saves Din from stormtroopers, fends off three Praetorian Guards, helps Bo-Katan defeat
Moff Gideon, and protects the whole squad from a massive explosion. His Force shield technique is
particularly striking because it echoes the end of The Mandalorian Season 1. Back then,
it took all of Grogu's might just to stop a single flametrooper. Now,
he can hold back the fires of a crashing star cruiser. It's only fitting, then,
that Season 3 ends with Grogu promoted from foundling to Mandalorian apprentice.
"Grogu is my apprentice. He's no longer a foundling. Add him to the Song."
And with that advancement in rank comes an even more important development:
being officially adopted by Din Djarin and taking on the name Din Grogu. It's sweet, satisfying,
and bound to give you a lump in the throat. At the end of the Mandalorian Season 3 finale,
Din tells New Republic Ranger Carson Teva that he wants a more reputable line of work
now that he's a father. He proposes working as a freelance contractor for the New Republic,
which would definitely be a step up from ordinary bounty hunting.
With this new job under his belt and a cute little house to raise Grogu in,
Din has really come full circle. We first meet him in Season 1 running dangerous missions on Nevarro.
The planet is a wretched hive of scum, villainy, and Imperial holdouts, and the Mandalorians live
in the sewers. Now, at the end of Season 3, Din is living on the same planet, but
things are quite different. His work has helped transform Nevarro into a thriving trade hub,
and he has an official sanction from the galactic government to suss out and put away bad guys.
If there is one prevailing theme in The Mandalorian Season 3,
it's summed up midway through the finale. The captain of the survivors who've been
living on Mandalore leads Bo-Katan and her crew to a safe haven — a cave teeming with
wildlife. He tells Bo that they have been planting farms to restore the ecosystem,
and when she asks how such a thing is possible on a barren planet, he responds that life persists.
The sentiment worked in Jurassic Park, and it works here, too. No matter how powerful evil may
become, the natural balance of the universe will always find a way to fight back. This
theme underscores most of the season. Bo-Katan is alone and hopeless at the start after losing the
Darksaber and her forces. But by reconnecting with her heritage, she finds new hope. Nevarro manages
to become a peaceful world despite decades of Outer Rim chaos and Imperial violence.
The first two seasons of The Mandalorian focus squarely on Din's adventures. Most of the action
takes place in the Outer Rim or the Mid Rim, and a handful of New Republic rangers are the
only glimpse of core galactic society. All that changes in Season 3. We get an entire
episode on Coruscant, numerous deep dives into the nature of post-Imperial politics,
and a look behind the curtain at Grand Admiral Thrawn's impending return.
One message prevails through all of this: The New Republic isn't half as safe or secure as it
would like to think. The amnesty program, meant to rehabilitate former Imperials,
is full of holes, allowing for people like Elia Kane to gain New Republic access while still
working for the Empire. The Outer Rim is far too large for the government to police or protect,
and the so-called Shadow Council remains active in, well, the shadows.
All of this helps explain the rise of the First Order in the sequel trilogy. It might have seemed
strange and even rushed in The Force Awakens when the First Order appeared on the scene and
quickly destroyed half a dozen planets. But now, we see just how much careful scheming
and New Republic inefficacy led to that moment. While the New Republic struggles and the Imperial
Remnant schemes, the rest of the galaxy seems to be thriving. The Mandalorian Season 3 seems
to argue that grassroots community projects, not massive governments, are the way forward,
especially in the Outer Rim and the Mid Rim. Nevarro is the best example of this,
turning saloons into schoolhouses and dangerous environments into hospitable homes.
An often-overlooked aspect of the Star Wars story is that the Republic truly was corrupt
by the time Palpatine toppled it. The Senate failed to serve its constituents, the galactic
core hoarded the riches of the galaxy, and there was rampant corruption. These ideas are alluded
to in the prequels, but they're even clearer in The Clone Wars. The Mandalorian Season 3 suggests
that the New Republic isn't really much better. The galaxy is certainly improving now that it's
out from under Palpatine's thumb, but it's the regular people fighting for their own localities,
not the bigwigs on Coruscant, who make the difference. As the old Mandalorian
captain says of the plants on Mandalore, all they need to thrive is room to grow.
After retaking Mandalore, defeating Moff Gideon, and officially becoming a family,
Din and Grogu have earned some time off at their new home on Nevarro. But The
Mandalorian Season 4 is coming, and we already have some clues as to what it might hold.
Gideon may be gone, but the Imperial Remnant is still building strength in
the far reaches of space. Grand Admiral Thrawn is set to return in Ahsoka,
and his campaign against the New Republic could spill into Season 4. Now that Din is
a contractor for the galactic government, he could be called into action against Thrawn.
And since Dave Filoni is now making a Star Wars movie to wrap up the so-called "Mandoverse" saga,
it's likely that the shows will continue to overlap in big ways.
As for Mandalore itself, things look bright. The Armorer tells Din at the end of Season 3
that he must take Grogu on adventures now that he's his apprentice, which will likely keep the
pair away from the homeworld for a while. A fresh run of episodic voyages likely awaits in Season 4,
but we'll probably still get some visits to Bo-Katan's reconstruction efforts. The
bigger question now isn't what The Mandalorian Season 4 will hold, but when it will arrive.