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When is The Mandalorian set in the Star Wars timeline?

Is The Mandalorian before or after Boba Fett? When is it set and how does it cross over with the Star Wars movies? Our full guide reveals all…

Mando and Grogu in season 1.

Disney

Published: Tuesday, 28 March 2023 at 2:45 pm

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We're halfway into The Mandalorian season 3 and surprises have been around every corner, from the mythosaur and new reveals about Grogu's past, to a Star Wars legend returning.

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There's plenty more to come from season 3, and showrunner Jon Favreau has even revealed that season 4 has already been written.

Plus, with shows like Ahsoka and Skeleton Crew on the horizon, there will be plenty more Star Wars goodness to delve into.

However, it can be a little difficult to know when each of the shows takes place. That's where we come in! Here's everything you need to know about where The Mandalorian sits in the Star Wars timeline.

When is The Mandalorian season 3 set?

Baby Yoda in The Mandalorian season 3.

Baby Yoda in The Mandalorian season 3. Disney Plus

Is The Mandalorian a prequel? Well, it's a little complicated.

To put it in the simplest terms, The Mandalorian is set after the original Star Wars trilogy (AKA A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) but before the recent sequel trilogy (AKA The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker).

In The Mandalorian’s world, the Empire has been defeated, and the new Republic set up by the Rebel Alliance is taking charge – but some Imperial remnants are still at large and causing trouble for the series’s titular bounty-hunting hero.

Basically, The Mandalorian functions as a sequel to the story of Luke, Leia, Han Solo and Darth Vader, and as a prequel to the more modern movies.

Given that this time in the galaxy is relatively unexplored, there’s a lot of wiggle room for us to meet new characters and see some shocking twists.

As for the other Disney Plus shows? Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor are both set years before The Mandalorian, and before the original Star Wars film trilogy.

The Book of Boba Fett is set after The Mandalorian season 1 and season 2 but before season 3. The third instalment continues on from Mando and Grogu's reunion in Boba Fett. This all comes after the original Star Wars trilogy.

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Ahsoka is expected to take place around five years after Return of the Jedi - so around the same time as The Mandalorian and Boba Fett.

But if you want something more specific, well, we can give you more specific. Don't say you weren't warned.

The Mandalorian and the Star Wars timeline

Within the canon of Star Wars, dates are a little different than our own. Generally speaking fans count years forwards and backwards from the original 1977 Star Wars film, specifically the Death Star assault at the film’s conclusion, aka the Battle of Yavin.

In other words, every Star Wars movie, book, spin-off game or TV show is either set a number of years before the Battle of Yavin (BBY) or after the Battle of Yavin (ABY).

So with that in mind, here’s how The Mandalorian fits in with the main movies and TV series. While some of these years are estimates, most are derived or deduced from official sources like the Star Wars Visual Dictionary series.

(For a full Star Wars movies order, check out our piece on the subject).

In simple terms, then, The Mandalorian is set about five years or so after the events of Return of the Jedi, the fall of the Empire and the rise of the new Republic.

It’s also set about 25 years before The Force Awakens, within a largely untouched piece of the Star Wars timeline that still allows a lot of wiggle room for Djarin and Grogu to have an awful lot of adventures before they start running into Finn, Poe, Rey et al.

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Is The Mandalorian before or after Boba Fett?

The Book of Boba Fett

Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett in The Book of Boba Fett.

The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2 are set after the on-screen appearances of original Star Wars bounty hunter Boba Fett, who appears in Episodes V and VI of the original trilogy, but before his own series.

We then got some major crossovers in The Book of Boba Fett, which saw Grogu leave his Jedi training with Luke Skywalker, and reunite with Djarin for more adventures.

Season 3 of The Mandalorian picked up after The Book of Boba Fett.

Is The Mandalorian before or after Darth Vader?

Star Wars

Star Wars Episode V The Empire Strikes Back starring David Prowse as Darth Vader (voiced by James Earl Jones).

Darth Vader died at the end of Return of the Jedi. Since The Mandalorian is set around five years after the film, it's set after Darth Vader's death.

However, considering it's still a fairly tight time period, the impact of the Empire is still felt, with season 3 exploring the impact on the members of Moff Gideon's crew, Elia Kane and Dr Penn Pershing.

The Mandalorian season 3 episodes arrive on Disney Plus on Wednesdays, while seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream now. Sign up to Disney+ now for £7.99 per month or £79.90 for a full year.

Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide for more to watch.

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Authors

Radio Times commissioning editor Huw Fullerton. He sits in front of a shelving unit, looking at the camera and smiling. He wears glasses and has a moustache

Huw FullertonCommissioning editor

Huw Fullerton is a commissioning editor for Radio Times magazine handling comedy, entertainment and specialist drama. In a previous regeneration, he covered all things sci-fi and fantasy for RadioTimes.com.

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