Big fan conventions like San Diego Comic Con and Star Wars Celebration always come with big reveals in the form of announcements and trailers that are usually also posted online for those not lucky enough to be there in person. While Thursday’s Lucasfilm Showcase premiered the first footage of Willow and Andor for online audiences, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni shared a special teaser for the third season of The Mandalorian just for the audience in the room. The brief teaser lasted only a minute but it was packed with cool stuff. Today, Favreau and Filoni headed a panel just for The Mandalorian and revealed an extended teaser for the third season along with a brief look at Ahsoka. Because of how big this footage was for Star Wars fans, we’ve got exclusive Ahsoka and The Mandalorian Season 3 footage breakdowns for your reading pleasure!
First up is The Mandalorian season 3 footage breakdown: The footage opened with The Armorer chiding Dinn for removing his helmet and disobeying the orders of the Mandalorians. She then tells him he is no longer Mandalorian and banished from their cult. The footage then cuts to Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) sitting on her throne, equally displeased with Mando. The footage then quickly cuts to a tree full of Kowakian monkey-lizards, the same race as Jabba’s pet, Salacious Crumb. Greef Carga (Carl Weathers) welcomes Mando back and there are then fleeting shots of Dr. Pershing (Omid Abtahi) whose role seems more significant this season, Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris), Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) and a new character played by SNL veteran Tim Meadows. We then see Mando vowing to return to Mandalore to be forgiven for his transgressions. A series of action sequences follow, including Mando and Grogu flying his new ship from various other ships. We see Bo-Katan in her armor as she talks to Grogu. Multiple other Mandalorian warriors are seen going into a massive battle including dropping from a ship in the sky of a planet. The teaser ends with Din Djarin and Grogu breaking through the atmosphere to reveal a broken and desolate Mandalore.
What we do not see in the teaser are Moff Gideon, the Darksaber, or many elements left hanging from the second season of the series. There are also no references to Boba Fett or Fennec Shand in this teaser. In short, it is a very cool and action-packed teaser that looks very polished in regard to visual effects. Why the series has to wait until next year is beyond me, but what was shown looked very good and far better than a lot of what the first two seasons showcased.
Next, we had the Ahsoka footage breakdown: Despite only having been in production for three weeks, the teaser looks very promising. There was no dialogue to speak of but rather a collection of scenes, mostly of Rosario Dawson in costume. No sweeping landscape shots were visible but we do see Ahsoka walking through what looks like a rocky terrain. We then see a shot of Chopper the droid and the back of Hera Syndulla’s head walking aboard what looks to be Ghost, the ship from the animated series Rebels. There are also shots of fan-favorite character Sabine Wren in her Mandalorian helmet. The teaser ends with a shot of a painted mural showing the animated characters from Rebels with the back of someone looking on. Based on the dark hair of the character, I suspect this is Ezra Bridger, the Force-sensitive main character in Rebels.
There was not much in the way of action or lightsaber sequences in this footage, but it is very rough and early in production. What it does reveal to me is that the production values on this series will be equal to The Mandalorian and that Dave Filoni is bringing all of his animated characters into the live action canon of Star Wars. This teaser drew massive applause from the audience and I only expect more excitement once the full trailer debuts closer to the series premiere.
The Mandalorian‘s third season is slated for February 2023 with Ahsoka coming in late 2023.