The Mandalorian was the first Disney+ live-action Star Wars show, and it was a massive success from its very first episode and its first 2 seasons have maintained this popularity with the premier of the 2nd season getting over 1 million viewers.
TLDR:
The Mandalorian is officially canon, as it was officially released by Disney after acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012 and is part of the official lore of the franchise.
Star Wars has always been a popular franchise but The Mandalorian displays the continued relevance this media property still has.
But with the Mandalorian having so much popularity and having a plot which is connected but slightly detached from the main narrative of the movies, some more casual fans of the Star Wars franchise may wonder where The Mandalorian stands in the canon and in the timeline of the whole series.
In a lot of media franchise’s like Star Wars there are often spin-off shows like The Mandalorian which are enjoyable but not actually considered part of the main series canon.
This article aims to answer any questions about where Mandalorian stands in the Star Wars canon and how much of a bearing it stands on the rest of the series.
If you have any qualms about where The Mandalorian stands in the Star Wars canon, keep reading!
Is Mandalorian Canonical?
If you are asking if The Mandalorian is canonical there is an assumption that you do not know much about Disney’s relationship with Star Wars and how this relates to the canon of the media franchise.
In short, any Star Wars media which has been officially released since Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012 is considered canonical and is part of the official lore of the franchise.
This of course includes The Mandalorian meaning that the series is officially canon, but it also means that any Star Wars books, TV shows, and even video games are all considered part of the canon if they were released after this time period.
This might be hard to pick up when watching the first season of The Mandalorian as it does not reference much else in the grander Star Wars narrative and is largely stand-alone narratively, however it definitely takes place in the same fictional universe and fits into the timeline of events in Star Wars.
There are some references to the greater Star Wars universe in the first season of Mandalorian however, with an episode that takes place on the planet of Tatooine and in this same episode the Empire are the central antagonists, however the rest of the season largely ignores the rest of Star Wars lore.
The second season on the other hand does more than just reference other parts of the Star Wars canon and instead highlights these elements.
A great example of this in the second season is the first episode highlighting the origins story of the character Cobb Vanth from the Star Wars book series Aftermath.
Another reference to the larger Star Wars universe is present in the third episode where we are introduced to another character Bo-Katan and in the fourth we are shown Snoke who is present in the sequel trilogy as well as the midichlorians who feature in the prequel movies.
These are not the only references to the larger Star Wars narrative in this season, however, they are some of the most obvious and are what helps emphasize just how much more the second season indulges in Star Wars lore than the first.
Where Is The Mandalorian In The Timeline?
The Mandalorian is placed on the timeline 9 ABY with ABY meaning years after the battle of Yavin.
To put this in perspective the Return of the Jedi is 4ABY and the Force Awakens is 34 ABY.
This means that The Mandalorian takes place in between the 30-year gap which is between the original and the sequel trilogy.
Almost everything that is shown in The Mandalorian takes place during the same year being 3286 LY which is a year system called the Lothal Calendar.
This system is used as this show takes place within the Outer Rum which is where this calendar most commonly used.
So using ABY is purely a referencing system to help put the time of events into perspective, whereas the actual Lothal Calendar is a proper dating system as well as the CRC dating system.
How Popular Is The Mandalorian?
As previously mentioned, The Mandalorian is massively popular and has had almost 6 times more viewers than anything else on Disney+ at the times of its release and when it was being released, its massive popularity led to many people just calling Disney+ the Mandalorian channel due to this show being the main reason most people subscribed to the service.
While the Marvel original shows now get a lot of the attention this show once held, The Mandalorian is still seen as one of the most important shows for Disney+ still being one of the main reasons why so many people subscribed to the service and is why so many Star Wars fans saw the streaming service as essential.
Disney And Star Wars?
Disney is seen as having quite a rocky track record when it comes to their projects with the Star Wars series.
The sequel trilogy has had overall quite controversial reception with the last of the trilogy facing some of the most scathing feedback.
The spin off movies like Solo and Rogue One have also had mixed reception with fans seemingly not being able to decide what the consensus is with everything seeming to have potential which is unfortunately not always achieved.
Disney has been quite successful with its TV projects however with them returning to the very popular pre-acquisition TV show The Clone Wars giving it a final season which pleased a lot of fans.
The Mandalorian as you can tell from this article has obviously been received massively well and this has led to even more spin off Star Wars projects to follow its lead with the most recent being the new Obi Wan series.
Brad Burnie is the founder of Starships.com. He loves all video game genres. In his spare time, he loves reading, watching movies, and gaming
