The Mandalorian: How Grogu Growing Up is Going to Change His Relationship With Mando

Star Wars: The Mandalorian Season 3 is (finally) arriving on Disney+, and it is indeed going to be a season where things are in a flux of change in the galaxy far, far, away... 

As trailers for The Mandalorian Season 3 have teased, Din Djarin/Mando (Pedro Pascal) has reunited with his young charge Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) for their most epic mission yet: reclaiming Din's lost honor within The Tribe by restoring the Mandalorian homeworld of Mandalore. However, The Mandalorian co-creator Jon Favreau has been making it clear in interviews that there's been substantial passage of time since The Mandalorian Season 1 first began this storyline – and Grogu has been a growing boy all that time. With The Mandalorian Season 3, the Mando/Grogu relationship will new sorts of tests, as Baby Yoda stops being a baby...

"Well, [Grogu] trained quite a bit recently, right, with Luke Skywalker, who rumor has, it is a very powerful Jedi, so he's probably going to be a different guy than he was two years ago when we last saw him on The Mandalorian. We checked in a little bit during Book of Boba Fett just to see what they've been up to. So they're different, there's a difference in the relationship. Also, I'm a dad, kids... They're still little, but he's growing up and it changes the nature of the relationship between the two of them. And so you're going to see an evolution."

He might have trailed off there for a bit when talking about kids, but that silence says alot. Kids do grow and change rapidly – and when they are young, a year or two of time can be worlds of difference in terms of how that child changes and develops. That all said, Favreau was careful to reenforce that while Mando and Grogu's relationship will see some changes in Season 3, the makers of The Mandalorian aren't losing sight of the core elment of the show that appeals to fans: 

"I think that that relationship, and we've discussed this, is probably the most important central aspect of it, this lone wolf and cub dynamic," Favreau explains. "And so while you have all these great effects and all these great villains and ships and blasters and lightsabers, it's really about this family story as they develop. So that's what we're keying into a lot. And Din Djarin's different than he was. He was a selfish loner and now he's a dad. He's trying to figure out how to be a single father. So that informs things as well."

The Mandalorian Season 3 will stream on Disney+ starting on Wednesday.