truly wild Disney spent years building up Grogu as a force sensitive in need of Jedi training only to haphazardly veto that entire plot arc in an unwatchable spin-off about nice Boba Fett, effectively ruining THE MANDALORIAN in a misguided effort to “make everything connected” pic.twitter.com/6v1Oc7LFzs

— Brendan Hodges (@metaplexmovies) January 18, 2023

And look, we all knew Grogu would reunite with Mando. They're the heart of the show. But the way Favreau resolved this as a zoinks slapstick C-plot in the finale of a poorly made spin-off is a sad case of choosing "content" over meaning. It's soulless even by Disney standards. pic.twitter.com/QgS0bLrNQN

— Brendan Hodges (@metaplexmovies) January 18, 2023

Just found out from this meme that the central emotional plot point of The Mandalorian was resolved in some other show that I will never watch. https://t.co/jM9lwzAvbn

— Cody Johnston (@drmistercody) January 17, 2023

I can't stop laughing, this is absurd, why would you do this.

— Cody Johnston (@drmistercody) January 17, 2023

Flashdiaz said:

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easy. rebrand those good episodes of Fett with the Mandalorian and Grogu as Mandalorian episodes and release them in February as a prologue to Season 3.

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redline248 said:

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Bit of a sidetrack, here, but even if Anakin chose to leave the order he'd probably still have been seduced by Sidious. He wouldn't have chosen to leave at any early point in his life. Maybe after he and Padme got married he could have chosen to leave, but I don't know if that would have helped him. Palps would have jumped on that chance so fast

He also wanted to be a Jedi, and wanted to be the strongest Jedi. That's part of his flaw.

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The Porkchop Express said:

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I'm not doubting TC's friends, but it's also hard to believe any person who is invested in Mando wouldn't have seen something on social media or other websites about Mando and Grogu being in those episodes of Boba Fett, especially the 5th one which is 98% Mando and the 6th one which is can't miss television. I don't use Twitter so not sure if that guy talks about the other episodes, but he only seems to be referring to the 7th one - the season finale, where as the two before that were really the ones to watch.

I can't speak for everyone about the Grogu build up and then reversal, but that episode with him, Luke, Ahoska, and Mando felt like Star Wars taking a really different course away from being Jedi-centric. I wrote a whole long thing about it back then that isn't worth repeating, but Grogu did what Anakin should have done and what Ahoska kind of did - choose something else over being a Jedi. I really enjoyed it.

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The Porkchop Express said:

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So after I watched the Bad Batch today, I watched the Mando trailer on Disney plus. Thought my eyes were playing tricks on me so I had to roll it back a couple of times, then go to YouTube and watch that version, and stumbled on something.

There's a frame in the Disney+ trailer that's not in the YouTube version. I was at the airport during the football game Monday, so not sure which version was shown there. But when Carson is telling someone about the "danger out there", there is this shot, which I have significantly lightened so you can see that it's a Star Destroyer parked on Coruscant. It comes right after one of the Dr. Pershing shots, so maybe that's him down in the front right of the screenie? Don't know.

However, if you're an old Rogue Squadron fan like me, it definitely gives some Lusankya vibes, doesn't it?

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The Porkchop Express said:

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I'm not doubting TC's friends, but it's also hard to believe any person who is invested in Mando wouldn't have seen something on social media or other websites about Mando and Grogu being in those episodes of Boba Fett, especially the 5th one which is 98% Mando and the 6th one which is can't miss television. I don't use Twitter so not sure if that guy talks about the other episodes, but he only seems to be referring to the 7th one - the season finale, where as the two before that were really the ones to watch.

I can't speak for everyone about the Grogu build up and then reversal, but that episode with him, Luke, Ahoska, and Mando felt like Star Wars taking a really different course away from being Jedi-centric. I wrote a whole long thing about it back then that isn't worth repeating, but Grogu did what Anakin should have done and what Ahoska kind of did - choose something else over being a Jedi. I really enjoyed it.

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ABATTBQ11 said:

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I would say they did commit to the emotional stakes because a major part of the show is the bond between them and how that changes Din Djarin and Grogu. The separation was never going to work, and that should have been obvious. Just because handing Grogu of to a Jedi for training is what Din Djarin was working towards and ultimately achieved doesn't mean that's the direction the characters and plot should take.

I'm agreeing with you 100% on this. The separation was never going to work, but my point is, there was only ONE episode of separation. We needed a chance for absence to make the heart grow fonder. We needed multiple episodes, if not an entire season, of them apart, to A) make the emotional stakes of the goodbye actually count for something, so they B) had the proper time to truly realize they were "meant for each other," so to speak, which would have C) given the reunion that much more of an emotional payoff. Instead, the way they played it - again, on a completely different show - was kind of a dud, when you take the novelty of the Luke appearance out of the equation.

Yes, it was resolved in another show, but Favreau and Filoni said many times that Boba Fett was Mando 2.5.

I would argue that well over half the Mando audience watches zero behind-the-scenes content, nor have they ever heard a word Favreau and Filoni have spoken about the show. It's becoming more and more apparent that a good chunk of the audience had absolutely no clue BoBF was meant to be Mando 2.5, and that's on Lucasfilm/Disney, not the audience.

There is something to the audience needing to feel the separation, but I think the sleeves of it it's a testament to the fact it would never work.

Also, Din Djarin isn't doing a walkabout on Mandalore. We can tell that from the season 3 previews. Boba Fett was setting up him going to Mandalore and uniting the Mandalorians. I think that's a journey that Grogu would need to be a part of.

All I know is that the last time we saw her, the Armorer told Mando, "one may only be redeemed in the mines of Mandalore," which definitely sounds like *some* kind of spiritual journey/walkabout of sorts. He obviously gets mixed up with the other Mandalorians along the way, but you know what I'm getting at. That, and traditionally, most journeys of redemption, of this nature, are personal/solo. It honestly makes way less sense to me that Grogu would be on this journey with him.

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The Porkchop Express said:

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Director news from Mando Season 3 from Bespin Bulletin

Returning directors:

Rick Famuyiwa, who also picked up an executive producer credit this time around. He's previously directed Season 1, Episode 2 (Mando fights the jawas, Grogu battles the Mudhorn); Season 1 Episode 6 (The Prison Ship / Bill Burr's debut), and Season 2, Episode 7 (Mando and Bill Burr infiltrate the Imperial compound to get the location of Moff Gideon's ship.

Carl Weathers, who directed Season 2, Episode 4 (The Siege) back on Nevarro and who is obviously Greef Karga Creed.

Bryce Dallas Howard, who directed Season 1, Episode 4 (Sanctuary where Mando meets Cara and protects the village), and Season 2, Episode 3 (The Heiress with Bo Katan), and The Book of Boba Fett's Return of the Mandalorian episode (and voiced my girl Yaddle in Tales of the Jedi).

Newcomers include:

Peter Ramsey, who co-directed Into the Spider-Verse and is also directing at least one episode of Ahsoka. Back in the day he was a storyboard artist for Predator 2, Backdraft, ID4, and Fight Club among others.

Rachel Morrison, who has previously directed episodes of American Crime Story and the MOrning Show and was nominated for an Academy Award for cinematography on Black Panther.

Lee Isaac Chung, who has directed a whole bunch of movies I've never heard of, but I'm not a Hollywood guy - Minari appears to bet he one he's well known for.

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Quote:

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Four short years ago, Lee Isaac Chung accepted a university teaching gig, with plans to move home and give up on filmmaking for good. On a whim, he decided to write one last screenplay/give his film career one last shot before starting his teaching job the following fall. That script - Minari - ended up being produced Brad Pitt, was directed by Chung, and went on to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars in 2021. Now, he's directing the legacy sequel to one of the most beloved blockbusters of the '90s.

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SpreadsheetAg said:

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Could they somehow backtrack for 2-3 episodes to show them apart. Then in ep 3-4 play the same scene from BOBF to reunite them?

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