Mando and Grogu are back with some thrilling adventures inThe Mandalorianseason 3, from their treacherous journey into the mines of Mandalore to their mission to save a young foundling from the beak of a giant bird to their high-octane standoff with a band of pirates. But the season has dividedStar Warsfans with a couple of oddly uncharacteristic episodes and storylines. The third episode of the season, “Chapter 19: The Convert,” barely featured the Mandalorian at all as it introduced the New Republic’s amnesty program and the dark fate met by cloning engineer Dr. Pershing.
With its ruminations on intergalactic bureaucracy and its blurring of the line between good and evil, “The Convert” felt more like an episode ofAndorthan an episode ofThe Mandalorian.The fifth episode, “Chapter 21: The Pirate,”became a standardMandalorianouting in its second half, but its first half and its epilogue were centered around Captain Carson Teva doing the rounds in his X-wing. Perhaps these storylines don’t feel likeMandalorianstorylines because they weren’t conceived asMandalorianstorylines. AMandalorianspin-off calledRangers of the New Republicwas announced by Lucasfilm around the same time asAhsokaandThe Book of Boba Fett. Like those other spin-offs,Rangers of the New Republicwas planned to directly tie into the events ofThe Mandalorian.
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However, in May 2021, whenThe Book of Boba Fettwas well underway and Dave Filoni was working on the scripts forAhsoka,Varietyreported thatRangers of the New Republicwas no longer in “active development.” When the series was scrapped around the same time thatGina Carano was fired from theStar Warsfranchisefor a string of controversial social media posts, it was widely speculated that the two were related. Since Cara Dune became a marshal inThe Mandalorian’s second season, it seems likely thatRangers of the New Republicwas being developed to revolve around Cara. With Carano out of theStar Warsensemble and no intention of recasting the role, a Cara-centric spin-off was no longer viable.
Some setup for theRangers of the New Republicseries can be spotted inThe Mandalorianseason 2 andThe Book of Boba Fett. Teva popped up in a couple ofMandalorianandBook of Boba Fettepisodes, to the point where it seemed like he was the only New Republic pilot in the galaxy, apparently to set up his starring role inRangers. Afterspringing Migs Mayfeld from a New Republic prisonso he could help Mando infiltrate an Imperial refinery, Cara was so impressed with his sharpshooting skills and his commitment to eradicating the Empire that she let him go, which seemed to pave the way for a future team-up. It seems thatRangers of the New Republicwould’ve revolved around Cara, Teva, and Mayfeld all teaming up to investigate the Imperial Remnants and expand the worldbuilding teased byThe Mandalorian.
The Mandalorianand all of its spin-offs are building to a “climactic story event” (perVariety) – theInfinity Warof the Mando-verse – so every storyline is integral to the build-up to that eventual payoff.Rangers of the New Republicmight have been called off as a series of its own, butMandaloriancreator Jon Favreauneeds to fold in some crucial plot points from the canceled series elsewhere in order to properly set the stage for this climactic story event. If this event is a large-scale battle between the Mandalorians and the Imperial Remnants, then the New Republic will probably be a significant factor.
According toIGN, Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy clarified that the creative team “had never written any scripts or anything” forRangers of the New Republic, but hinted that elements ofRangersmight be “absorbed” intoThe Mandalorian. She didn’t confirm anything, but she said, “Some of [Rangers of the New Republic] will figure into future episodes, I’m sure, of the next iteration ofMandalorian.” Season 3 seems to be showing the first evidence of that absorption. In every other episode, the show pivots away from Mando for a New Republic-centric storyline that was likely intended for theRangersseries. FromDr. Pershing’s mind-flayingto Moff Gideon’s mysterious disappearance, a lot of plot points fromThe Mandalorian’s third season seem like they were supposed to be inRangers of the New Republic’s first season.
Rather than shoehorningRangers of the New Republicstorylines intoMandalorianepisodes, it would’ve been great if Favreau and co. could’ve figured out a way to incorporate Din Djarin into some of these narrative arcs. BetweenThe Book of Boba Fetthavingepisodes starring the MandalorianandThe Mandalorianhaving episodes with scarce screen time for the Mandalorian, this whole small-screenStar Warsuniverse is starting to feel a bit messy. Hopefully, the climactic story event that it’s all building towards will be worth it.
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