The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2 both take place in the same year, but the show’s timeline shouldn’t actually look like that. The first two seasons, which proved to be some of The Mandalorian‘s best, saw Din Djarin and Grogu travel across the galaxy to flee bounty hunters and find Jedi. Their journey took them to a wide variety of planets in the Outer Rim, from Nevarro to Trask and many others in between, where they also got into a lot of trouble. With all their activities and the changes in the surrounding galaxy, the duo had a busy year.
Star Wars: Timelines established The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2 and The Book of Boba Fett season 1 all take place in 9 ABY. This covers everything from Din first finding Grogu and discovering his identity all the way to Grogu choosing the Mandalorians over the Jedi. Greef Karga took control of Nevarro and Boba Fett took control of Jabba the Hutt’s palace and territory. It seems there were many changes in 9 ABY, as the Outer Rim went through a huge transformation. Even Din’s armor changed significantly, but those changes may have happened too quickly.
Too Much Happens In The Mandalorian All In One Year
Din and Grogu had a lot of experiences in The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2. They traveled to dozens of planets, meaning the travel time alone would have filled most of the year, not to mention all the repairs to the Razor Crest. They also got into more fights than they could count. Between bounty hunters, a mudhorn, ice spiders, a krayt dragon, and more, 9 ABY was a blur of battle for the two. They also formed deep connections and rivalries with a slew of new allies and enemies and that would have taken much longer to foster.
Star Wars: Timelines
does not include season 3, though creator Jon Favreau has said there was a significant time gap before its beginning.
The Mandalorian’s Big Changes Should Take Time
Over the course of the first two seasons, both Din and Grogu went through great changes. Din started as a man with only himself and his religion, and ended up as a father figure and central community member. Grogu started as a hostage and ended up as the newest Mandalorian protégé. These were colossal shifts in their personalities, and a time frame of less than a year makes those changes hard to believe. If the events of seasons 1 and 2 were more spread out, many of those developments would feel more natural.
Many of the plot points of the seasons make little sense in the span of one year as well. If Din and Grogu were only on the run for less than a few months, it seems hard to believe they would be desperate enough to take Greef Karga’s offer (that was originally a trap). Grogu’s training with Luke would also have been incredibly short if it was jammed into the very end of an already overfilled year. His choice to rejoin Din feels rushed in the current canon timeline.
The galaxy itself also went through huge changes that would have taken more than a year’s time. Greef’s transformation of Nevarro’s town alone is a huge example, as cleaning up the criminal elements of the city and converting the cantina into a school alone is a long order to fill in so short a time. Even with their leadership skills, the logistics of the city’s restoration after the battle with Moff Gideon and transformation would have taken more time. Boba’s transformation of Tatooine similarly would have taken a long time, and having both in the same year is unlikely.
What The Mandalorian’s Timeline Should Actually Look Like
Early 9 ABY – when Din took the bounty puck from the Imperials – should still be the starting point, with the battle against Gideon on Nevarro set at the end of the year. This would have given Din and Grogu the necessary time to form their unique bond, grow weary of the pressure from their life on the run, and meet all of their new allies. This timeline also would have made Din’s choice of Grogu over the covert more potent, as the Children of the Watch would have been on the run for an extended period of time.
Din then would have taken the Armorer’s advice to find a Jedi to train Grogu at the end of 9 ABY, pushing the beginning of season 2 and the pair’s search for Jedi and Mandalorians into the border between 9 and 10 ABY. By the time they returned to Nevarro under Greef’s rule, 10 ABY would have been well underway, giving Greef and Cara enough time to implement all of their changes. Grogu’s capture and rescue would have rounded out the year at either the end of 10 ABY or the beginning of 11 ABY.
Similarly to the transformation of Nevarro, Boba’s takeover of Jabba’s territory would have taken a significant amount of time. Beginning just after Grogu’s rescue, the events of The Book of Boba Fett would have lasted until at least the middle of 11 ABY, if not longer. This would have made Boba’s takeover more believable and shown that the Pyke Syndicate was strong enough to resist Boba for longer than a few weeks. This also would have given Grogu more time to train with Luke, and made his choice to rejoin Din feel more sincere and informed.
The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2 and The Book of Boba Fett covered a lot of ground. The current canon timeline places everything that happened in them into one year, but with all of their adventures and the bond Din and Grogu created with each other, one year does not seem like a long enough time. Spreading out the events of the story of The Mandalorian to span a few years makes more sense and creates a more cohesive story for the father-son duo.
What The Mandalorian Movie’s Timeline Should Look Like
Though not much is known yet about The Mandalorian‘s upcoming spin-off movie, The Mandalorian & Grogu, the timeline of the TV show can at least inform what the movie’s timeline should look like. It’s not documented in Star Wars: Timelines, but based on Jon Favreau stating that The Mandalorian season 3 has a time gap before its events, it stands to reason that season 3 takes place at least one year after The Book of Boba Fett – which, in the above example, would place it in the year 12 ABY. This would give the story the proper room to breathe.
The Mandalorian season 3’s ending, however, implies that whatever will happen in The Mandalorian & Grogu likely won’t include a time gap as large as season 3’s. Movie footage shown at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event showed Star Wars Rebel hero Zeb Orrelios dropping Din Djarin and Grogu off at a location, and it was revealed in Ahsoka season 1 that he’s in charge of training new recruits. This likely means that Din and Grogu are still new recruits in The Mandalorian & Grogu, and thus it cannot be long after Din struck his deal with Captain Carson Teva.
Despite this, the way Din and Grogu work together in The Mandalorian & Grogu movie footage also seems to point towards them having more experience with splitting up and tag-teaming jobs together, which implies that they have been doing so for quite some time. It could be, then, that The Mandalorian & Grogu takes place a few months after The Mandalorian season 3, which would give it the proper distance from the events of Ahsoka season 1 as well. Hopefully, the timeline of The Mandalorian will become clearer as the movie and other installments come out.
The Mandalorian & Grogu
hits theaters May 22, 2026.