Everything from Boba Fett you need to know before The Mandalorian season 3

When The Mandalorian premiered, it felt like a breath of fresh air. This was Star Wars getting back to its roots: a fun, zippy space adventure that didn’t take itself too seriously. It’s really too bad, then, that Disney followed that success with The Book Of Boba Fett, a dirge of a show that was a chore to watch. And it seems like Disney knew the series was headed in a bad direction from the jump, because the last three episodes of Boba Fett are basically The Mandalorian season 2.5.

It would be one thing if Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) had shown up for a cameo in Boba Fett. (That thing would be dumb, ill-advised fan service, but Disney’s never been able to resist a pointless pop-in). But, instead, those last three episodes contain consequential story details that will affect The Mandalorian season three, which kicks off on March 1. And if you haven’t seen The Book Of Boba Fett—which, again, you really shouldn’t—you’re going to be pretty lost. Showrunner Jon Favreau even admitted as much in a recent interview with Empire, saying, “It’s going to be interesting to see how this unfolds for people who may not have seen The Book Of Boba Fett.” That’s the verbal equivalent of a shrug emoji.

It’s unclear whether or not The Mandalorian will offer a recap of the events of Boba Fett before season three begins. Favreau has claimed there will be, but we’re not sure yet if he’s talking about recaps from the previous seasons of Mando or if they’ll include Boba Fett. But after the way Disney did Boba Fett dirty, they really can’t be trusted, so we’ve compiled this guide to important events from Fett’s eponymous show to help you bridge the gap between The Mandalorian seasons two and three.

Din Djarin and Grogu are back together

This is the big one, the thing The Mandalorian will really struggle to explain at the beginning of season three. Season two ended with Grogu going off to Jedi training with Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill); season three will start with Din and Grogu back together. So what happened in the interim?

In episodes five, six, and seven of The Book Of Boba Fett, Din had the Armorer craft a chainmail shirt for Grogu made out of beskar steel. He tries to deliver it to Grogu, but is intercepted by Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson), who takes the gift and hands it off to Luke. Luke has been noticing that Grogu is distracted from his training and seems to miss Din quite a bit, so Luke gives Grogu a choice, laying out two objects in front of him: Yoda’s lightsaber, representing the choice to remain and become a Jedi, and the chainmail shirt, representing the choice to leave and become a Mandalorian foundling. Grogu picks the shirt and meets back up with Din as he’s helping Boba Fett clean up the streets of Tatooine and shut down the planet’s drug trade. (Much as we would like it to be, that’s not a joke. “Benevolent crime lord” is not a good look on Boba Fett.)

There’s no going back to the Jedi for Grogu

As Din points out in The Book Of Boba Fett episode five, the ways of the Jedi and the Mandalorians are diametrically opposed. Being a Jedi requires giving up all relationships and attachments; being a Mandalorian requires a dedication to one’s clan. Luke reiterates this when he makes Grogu choose between being a Jedi and a Mandalorian. Still, Grogu picks the shirt, leaving Luke to build the Jedi school that Ben Solo will later destroy. It’s unlikely we’ll see Luke in The Mandalorian again, but Ahsoka could still show up.

Din is the rightful ruler of Mandalore (except maybe he isn’t)

Okay, first, let’s define some things: The planet Mandalore is home to the Mandalorians, a cultural group made up of citizens who adhere to the same code, and both the planet and the people are ruled by a leader called the Mand’alor.

At the end of The Mandalorian season two, Din becomes the rightful owner of the Darksaber after defeating Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) in combat. Winning the Darksaber this way is how Mandalorians have traditionally handled the succession of Mand’alors on their planet. However, after the Galactic Empire bombed Mandalore, the few surviving Mandalorians fled to other parts of the galaxy, leaving them without a homeland and without a leader. Because Din’s got the Darksaber now, he’s the rightful Mand’alor, even though Mandalore is currently uninhabited and the Mandalorian people are fractured.

However, as the Armorer tells him in The Book Of Boba Fett, he’s no longer a Mandalorian because he broke the creed of the Children Of The Watch (the devout sect of Mandalorians in which Din was raised) and removed his helmet. The only way to atone, the Armorer says, is to be “redeemed in the living waters beneath the mines of Mandalore,” which is exactly what Din will set out to do in season three. Even though Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) told him he’d basically been raised in a cult and the rest of the Mandalorians no longer follow those strict rules about helmets (among other things), Din has been reticent to let go of the old ways.

Bo-Katan isn’t the only one who wants the Darksaber

The Mandalorian season two established that Bo-Katan wants the Darksaber back so she can redeem herself after her disastrous turn as Mand’alor. But The Book Of Boba Fett throws another contender into the mix: Paz Vizsla (Jon Favreau), the descendant of Tarre Vizsla, who created the Darksaber. Paz is a follower of the Armorer, so he’s also wrapped up in the Children Of The Watch, and he’s pissed that Din broke their creed by removing his helmet. Paz fights Din for the Darksaber, but Din comes out on top. However, Din doesn’t kill Paz, and it’s unlikely that Paz will accept this defeat with grace. Paz could easily come for Din and the Darksaber again, leading to a clash between the reformist Mandalorians led by Bo-Katan and the Children Of The Watch.

Mando has a new ship

After his previous ship, the Razor Crest, was destroyed by Moff Gideon at the end of The Mandalorian season two, The Book Of Boba Fett episode five spends about 20 minutes of its 50-minute runtime showing Din and Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris) fixing up and testing a new ship. It’s an N-1 starfighter that Peli claims was “commissioned personally by the Queen of Naboo.” The ship is extremely similar to the one Anakin flies in The Phantom Menace, and while the show doesn’t explicitly connect those dots, the Queen of Naboo Peli refers to is likely Padmé Amidala.