The Mandalorian returns to Disney+ in less than a week, but those hoping for the series to off to an epic start may need to curb their expectations as the reported premiere of season 3 is set to be the shortest live-action Star Wars premiere episode ever.
It has become a growing trend for shows to make their debut with a bumper episode to really get audiences involved in the season, and that has seen some new series debuting with 90 minute episodes. The Mandalorian is not going to be one of them with a new report from The Direct suggesting that the return of the popular Star Wars show will clock in at just 35 minutes. In context, this will make it three minutes shorter than the very first episode of the series, and a whole 16 minutes shorter than season two’s debut episode. Even when compared to other series, the episode will be significantly shorter than Obi-Wan Kenobi (51 minutes), Andor (39 minutes) and The Book of Boba Fett (37 minutes).
In some ways, this short runtime may not be a bad thing, as it clearly shows Jon Favreau and his team are not pushing the story beyond a length necessary to tell the tale. For fans who just want to see more of Din Jarin and Grogu, the shorted runtime may not be a reason to celebrate. Either way, The Manadorian’s return will deliver a huge audience when it arrives on Disney+ next week, and that is something that a short runtime is not going to stop from happening.
The Mandalorian’s Fourth Season Is Already Written
As one of the most popular shows on Disney+, it is not surprising that work on season 4 of The Mandalorian has not long begun but is complete in terms of scripting. Recently showrunner Jon Favreau explained how the mapping out of The Mandalorian’s future has been done for some time due to the continuing nature of the story. Favreau said:
“We have to know where we're going to tell a fully-formed story, so we had mapped it out, [executive producer] Dave [Filoni] and I, and then slowly you just right each episode. So I was writing it during post-production [on The Mandalorian Season 3] because all of it has to feel like a continuation, one full story."
When it comes to the scope and scale of The Mandalorian, Favreau also hinted at more crossovers coming in the future that will see the show linking up to other incoming series. He continued:
"And then [Dave Filoni's] doing Ahsoka, which I’m producing with him, but he’s the writer and showrunner on that. And so, to understand what’s happening on other shows or even Skeleton Crew, they all take place in the same Star Wars time period. So, there’s a lot more things that we have to keep in mind and stuff that we’ve built up to from previous seasons of The Mandalorian as well.”
The Mandalorian season 3 debuts on Disney+ on March 1.