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‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian’ Season 3 Has a Problem

4 Minute Read
Mar 24 2023
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Is The Mandalorian doing OK or does it have a problem?

Disney’s The Mandalorian Season 3 is chugging along and nearly halfway through. The show however seems to struggle a bit and isn’t living up to what all the fans want.

Does The Mandalorian Have a Viewership Problem?

While we don’t have complete numbers it seems that The Mandalorian Season 3 has not had the viewership numbers Disney would like. Initial numbers suggest that the show’s start was pulling lower numbers than Book of Boba Fett or Kenobi.  This would also put it behind The Mandalorian Season 2. It’s clearly not what Disney would want and does really suggest there is an issue with the show. So what is going on here?

Did Other Shows Ruin Things?

The first two seasons of The Mandalorian came out mostly in a vacuum. It was a groundbreaking show and the first time people could watch live-action Star Wars shows. Since then things have changed. Three other shows have come out and I’m not sure they have helped. Book of Boba Fett was… not a great show. I think if you watched it there wasn’t much to get you excited about seeing more Mandalorian stuff. It really sucked the momentum out of the air. Kenobi was also a bit lackluster and overall I’m not sure the two shows left people excited for Star Wars TV.

Andor, on the other hand, was so good I think it also hurt things. That was a dark and serious show. Going from something more adult back to the lighter, pulpy, and more kid-friendly Mando may not appeal to people. It kind of makes Mando look bad in comparison and I’m less enthused about the show. So on the one hand, you have a great show that is very different making you not want to watch Mando, and then you’ve got two shows that are closer to Mando that aren’t very good. I think this really turned people off.

Star Wars Has a Problem With Putting Episodes of One Show Into Another Show

A lot of fans and viewers were pretty perplexed when in the middle of the Book of Boba Fett we got two episodes that basically did not feature Boba Fett. In essence, these were two episodes of The Mandalorian. While they may have been the best episodes of BoBF, they also caused a lot of problems. For BoBF killed off any momentum the had, focusing on a totally different story. But for The Mandalorian itself, they caused even bigger issues, by butting a lot of major events into another show. These episodes deal with it while Grogu and Din are back together. Din getting a new ship. And in addition how Din was kicked out of his group of Mandalorian and what he needs to do to get back. Essentially the whole setup for season 3.

They Need to Fix This Problem

But that’s kind of a big issue. If you watched BoBF then really most of the nagging issues from season 2 of Mando, the things you were interested in learning about, were resolved. You weren’t left with a real hook for the show. Din getting back with his fanatic friends isn’t really a great hook. On top of that if you didn’t watch BoBF then you are left really confused about what’s happening with Mando. If you are a Mandalorian you likely heard that a ton of important stuff happened in BoBF. However, if you don’t want to watch it, because you heard it was bad then it might well keep you from watching Season 3 as well.

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Nor does it seem that Disney has learned its lesson. Episode 3 of Mando was essentially another show with around 40+ minutes being devoted to totally different characters in a different and mostly unrelated setting. Overall, it does seem like The Mandalorian has a problem. Let’s hope it can bee fixed.

Let us know if you think the show has problems, down in the comments! 

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Author: Abe Apfel
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