Pedro Pascal on Din Djarin Being a ‘Leader’ in ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3

The Mandalorian has left us with quite the cliffhanger as we head into season 3 of Disney+’s flagship Star Wars series, and while we got some answers with The Book of Boba Fett, there’s still some things up in the air as we see where Din Djarin and Grogu go next. The season 2 finale brought us Luke Skywalker taking Grogu away to train in the Jedi way, but as we saw in The Book of Boba Fett, he chose to go back with his adoptive father, Din Djarin, and be a Mandalorian. What we don’t know about the third season is whether or not Din is stepping into his duties as the new ruler of Mandalore.

And, according to star Pedro Pascal, if we are going to see him as a ruler, it’s not going to be something that he really wants to be doing, which we did get a glimpse of at the end of season 2. When he goes back to Bo-Katan to give her the Darksaber, it’s revealed that it must be won in battle, and he keeps trying to just yield it to her because he doesn’t want the responsibility it brings. In The Book of Boba Fett, we do see Din training with it, so he’s clearly not just giving it up and is slowly trying to figure out what he needs to do, but according to star Pedro Pascal, it isn’t exactly what he wants, either.

“If he is stepping into a leadership position, he’s reluctant to do so,” Pascal said in the latest issue of Total Film. “I don’t think that there’s anything more interesting than a character being forced into discovering what they’re capable of, and who they are. That part has been really, really fun. Also, from my point of view, there’s so many searchable ways to find the tonality of that. I just tried to achieve the subtleties of that kind of character development.”

How does Bo-Katan feel?

Star Katee Sackhoff was also part of the Total Film issue and talked a bit about where Bo-Katan is, mentally, with this. “Anytime you have a goal and you don’t succeed, I think you reevaluate.” Which is all that Sackhoff would say. In the past, she’s revealed that Bo-Katan isn’t just accepting of this, either, and there’s a lot for her to unpack in season 3 and her quest for the Darksaber.

But as attendees saw in the footage of season 3 at Star Wars Celebration, Bo-Katan does have some scenes with Grogu, and so Sackhoff opened up about working with the puppet a bit. “It’s funny because you always have to think about how you’re interacting with Grogu,” Sackhoff said. “It’s so specific, you have to make sure that you’re not doing anything that says something different. Every single thing, every single interaction with Grogu is very, very thought out.”

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So what does this mean for season 3? I think that the show is going to have a necessary shift. Prior to the release of The Book of Boba Fett, I thought it would be Din coming to terms with Grogu being gone and maybe finding a way of getting him back, but now that he’s reunited with his adoptive son, I think that this season is fully going to be a battle for Mandalore in a way that neither Din nor Bo-Katan is expecting. And whatever happens, Grogu will be at Din’s side through it all. Can we get Cobb Vanth to come and help too, though?

(featured image: Lucasfilm)