Star Wars has been forever changed by The Mandalorian, but after season 3 was met with mixed reviews, it seems as if many fans have chosen to forget this altogether – and I’m tired of it. The reception of The Mandalorian season 1 could not have been better, and at the time, it was praised as the best work Star Wars had done in many years. It was held up as a golden standard for Star Wars content even through season 2, especially as it paved the way for Star Wars live-action television as a whole. This, however, has since changed.
My biggest pet peeve is people dismissing The Mandalorian as a whole just because of one season. Like are we really just gonna pretend seasons 1 and 2 didn’t entirely revolutionize the modern era of Star Wars storytelling
— The Mollyordian (@mollybrizzell) June 10, 2024
When The Mandalorian season 3 failed to meet many fans’ expectations, the entire attitude around the TV show shifted dramatically. Suddenly, it was as if the impact of the show’s first two seasons didn’t matter at all. The show plummeted in fans’ rankings, and some even began to claim that the entire show has been ruined – and that its first two seasons were not as revolutionary as the fandom first thought them to be. As someone whose favorite Star Wars project ever is The Mandalorian, this has not only been hurtful to see, but also just downright wrong.
The Mandalorian Seasons 1 & 2 Changed Star Wars Forever
The worst part about the way The Mandalorian is currently treated after season 3 is that the impact of its first two seasons is being completely overlooked. Prior to The Mandalorian season 1, live-action Star Wars TV was essentially nonexistent. Without the success of The Mandalorian, TV shows such as Andor, Ahsoka, and more would never have happened. Star Wars needed The Mandalorian to prove itself first before it could greenlight any other series, and it not only proved that live-action Star Wars TV could work, but that it could become massive.
Without the success of The Mandalorian, TV shows such as Andor, Ahsoka, and more would never have happened.
The Mandalorian is not nearly as credited for this achievement as it should be, especially in the post-season 3 world. Better yet, it accomplished this feat without any legacy characters, taking place in a part of the Star Wars timeline that was completely barren in canon. I will never forget how revolutionary it was at the time, and how compelling I found characters like Din Djarin and Grogu to be on their own, without any association or relation to the Skywalkers. It amazes me how some people have forgotten this, all because of one season.
One Season Shouldn’t Determine The Show’s Entire Legacy
What gets me the most about this is that The Mandalorian is now being dismissed entirely because of one season. The Mandalorian season 3 is only 8 episodes of a 24-episode-long TV show, 28 episodes if those three in the latter half of The Book of Boba Fett are counted. It’s utterly baffling to me, then, that people are willing to dismiss The Mandalorian as a whole just because of one season failing to meet the expectations and standards of what came before. Better yet, The Mandalorian season 3 isn’t even as bad as many people say.
The biggest problem with The Mandalorian season 3 is that it’s vastly different from the first two seasons. This is why there’s such a divide between fans who loved season 3 and those who didn’t; it was still an incredible Star Wars story, it just didn’t feel like The Mandalorian’s story. To put down The Mandalorian as a whole for this is simply unfair, especially when its legacy in the Star Wars franchise is so remarkable. One season cannot change what Din Djarin and Grogu’s story has done for Star Wars in the last five years.
Star Wars TV Seasons Should Be Treated Like Separate Movies
There’s a simple fix to this mindset that ought to be adopted by the Star Wars fandom as a whole, and that’s treating seasons of Star Wars TV like we do the movies. As an example, some fans may conclude that of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones is the weakest entry. This one movie, however, doesn’t ruin the entire prequel trilogy, especially not when Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith exists. It almost sounds outlandish to even suggest such a thing.
This is the same mindset shows like The Mandalorian deserve with their different seasons. Each season has its own storyline just as the movies do, with season 1 focusing on Din Djarin and Grogu’s initial bond and fight against Moff Gideon for Grogu’s freedom, season 2 focusing on Din Djarin’s quest to reunite Grogu with his own kind, and season 3 focusing on the reclamation of Mandalore. That makes it entirely possible to separate a season from the show as a whole, and still conclude that The Mandalorian as a whole is a great Star Wars project.
The Mandalorian Is Still Disney Star Wars’ Most Important Project
At the end of the day, no matter what fans think of The Mandalorian season 3 or say about this show as a whole, there’s no denying that it’s one of the franchise’s most important projects ever. If A New Hope paved the way for Star Wars storytelling in movies, then The Mandalorian did the same in television. While The Mandalorian cannot truly match up with A New Hope due to the latter being the origin of the Star Wars franchise as a whole, it still clearly accomplishes a similar feat in terms of revolutionizing a popular storytelling medium.
If A New Hope paved the way for Star Wars storytelling in movies, then The Mandalorian did the same in television.
This is why I’m done with hearing that The Mandalorian is ruined because of season 3. The theme of Star Wars as a whole is hope, and the fact that no one or anything is ever too far gone to be saved. It is very much the current trend of the Star Wars fandom to turn on something vehemently if it doesn’t meet expectations, and unfortunately, I’ve now had to watch it happen with The Mandalorian. What hurts the most is seeing seasons 1 and 2, as remarkable and incredible as they are, be forgotten and mistreated so easily.
Thankfully, The Mandalorian will be taking matters into its own hands to clear its name. Though the fate of The Mandalorian season 4 remains unknown, its characters and story will be the first to take Star Wars to the movie theater since 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker with The Mandalorian & Grogu movie, which will be directed by Jon Favreau himself. Given that his directorial episode of The Mandalorian, “Chapter 9: The Marshal,” is so beloved by fans, I have no doubt The Mandalorian will earn its justice in due time.
