The Mandalorian Season 3 Will Show The Desolation Of Mandalore

"The Mandalorian" has been away for more than two years, but the time has finally come for Mando and Grogu to return to Disney+ as season 3 of the beloved "Star Wars" series is nearly upon us. As is typically the case, series producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are keeping very quiet on the details. What we do know for sure is that we are, at long last, going to get up and close with Mandalore, an important planet in the history of the galaxy. And it sounds very much like we are going to see how it came to be such a desolate, dark place.

We've seen tiny glimpses of Mandalore in the trailers for "The Mandalorian" season 3, but it's been unclear just how heavily the planet will factor into the proceedings. In an interview with Total Film, Favreau explained how this show's vision of Mandalore came to be. Here's what he said:

"Dave [Filoni] and his team from 'The Clone Wars' did a lot of the heavy lifting when it came to the development of Mandalore. I found it very compelling that this planet was very desolate, not because that's the ecosystem that had existed historically, but because there had been so many wars and civil wars and conflict between the tribes. And you have this warrior culture that couldn't stop fighting amongst themselves, and so the planet was turned into a wasteland long before the Purge and the Empire. And of course, when you're fighting amongst yourselves, it makes it that much more difficult to face an outside threat."

The history of Mandalore is deep, rich, and complex in "Star Wars" lore, but fans of both "The Clone Wars" and "Star Wars Rebels" have seen the planet in the past. Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) provided some connective tissue to the planet, bridging the animated world to the live-action one in season 2 of the show. In short, Mandalore has suffered a great deal, including tragic events such as "The Siege of Mandalore" and the "Night of a Thousand Tears" (which you can read all about here). Speaking further, Favreau also said that they are, quite literally, going to shine a light on all of the historical destruction and what the aftermath looks like:

"It's sort of a tragic history that this planet has, but also a romantic vision of what once was. We inherited the designs from Dave and his team, and then we wanted to show what happened and we make some allusions to the Purge of Mandalore; in 'The Book of Boba Fett' we show a montage of the destruction. And now when we return to the planet we get to see in the stark sunlight what the aftermath of all of that destruction was."

In season 2, Mando wound up in control of the Darksaber after defeating Moff Gideon in combat. That puts him at odds with Bo-Katan, who is seeking to control the weapon so that she can reclaim and rebuild Mandalore. Presumably, that will be a huge focus of the upcoming season, finally bringing our main characters to their namesake planet.

"The Mandalorian" season 3 premieres March 1 on Disney+.