Where Does The Mandalorian Fit in the Star Wars Timeline?

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The Mandalorian is a live-action series on Disney+ that is a part of the Star Wars franchise. Made by Jon Favreau, it stars Pedro Pascal and has two seasons so far.

It can be a bit confusing to figure out where The Mandalorian fits in the Star Wars timeline, particularly since the Star Wars franchise itself is a bit chaotic in terms of the order.

To get some clarity, you can go through the details of this series in terms of its context within the galaxy far, far away. Let’s begin!

The Mandalorian

The Mandalorian began as a series in November 2019 as a part of the Star Wars franchise. It focuses on Din Djarin, a bounty hunter who is hired by the Imperial forces to bring back a child named Grogu (or Baby Yoda; different from the Star Wars Yoda).

However, instead of capturing Grogu, Din Djarin escapes and strives to save him so that he can take him to the other members of his planet. Throughout this journey, there are attempts to follow and capture them, including those by Gideon, a leader of the (now collapsed) Galactic Empire.

These events span across two seasons (so far) with several references to other events taking place in the Star Wars timeline.

Where Does The Mandalorian Fit?

The Mandalorian is set five years after the occurrences that took place in the Return of the Jedi as well as the collapse of the Galactic Empire. This is also over two decades before the First Order has already established its control over the galaxy.

Let’s take a look at the timeline in further detail so that you can get a better idea of when exactly the events of this series take place.

(Note that BBY refers to episodes before the Battle of Yavin and ABY refers to events that take place after the Battle of Yavin.)

• Episode I: The Phantom Menace—32 years BBY
• Episode II: Attack of the Clones—22 years BBY
• The Clone Wars—22 to 19 years BBY
• Episode III: Revenge of the Sith—19 years BBY
• Solo: A Star Wars Story—roughly 10 years BBY
• Star Wars Rebels—5 years BBY
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story—ends right before the Battle of Yavin
• Episode IV: A New Hope—Battle of Yavin
• Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back—3 years ABY
• Episode VI: Return of the Jedi—4 years ABY
• The Mandalorian—9 years ABY
• Star Wars Resistance (series)—34 years ABY
• Episode VII: The Force Awakens—34 years ABY
• Episode VIII: The Last Jedi—34 years ABY
• Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker—35 ABY

During the period in which The Mandalorian is set, the Rebel Alliance’s government called the New Republic is in place, although its control over the galaxy is not very strong. It is particularly weak on the fringes, which is where Din Djarin is within the universe of The Mandalorian.

There are also other references that tie in this series with the rest of the franchise. You can look into some of these below.

• There are several explorations of the beginnings of the First Order in this series that became well established in the timeline of The Force Awakens.

• Grogu himself belongs to the species that Yoda comes from. While people tend to refer to him as the baby Yoda, he is not actually the same character that we have seen in the franchise. He is also not technically a baby but is 50 years old.

However, Grogu is also believed to have a strong Force within him, which is why there are so many forces after him.

• Din Djarin himself was born over 19 years before the Battle of Yavin because there is a charge on Din’s village roughly around this time.

• The Mandalorians were the ones who stole the Darksaber during the war, after which it got passed on to several people. Towards the end of the second season of this series, Gideon is the one who snaps the Darksaber.

• Luke Skywalker makes an appearance in the second season of The Mandalorian. Based on estimations, he is nearing the age of 30 in this series considering the fact that he was born 19 years BBY. In this series, he is shown to be instructing Grogu.

This also suggests that there are several years to go before Kylo Ren (or Ben Solo) demolishes the Jedi Praxeum founded by Luke Skywalker.

• Since the series is still currently ongoing, with the third season expected in 2022, there is no clarity about how long into the timeline this series will go. Another spinoff series called The Book of Boba Fett will also look into the other bounty hunter, Boba Fett, who came before Din Djarin.

That concludes the association of this series within the Star Wars timeline.

Official Confirmations

How do we know where The Mandalorian fits into the Star Wars timeline? Is this based on estimations of the fandom or are there any official confirmations?

The creator of this series, Jon Favreau, has already confirmed that the series takes place five years after the incidents that took place in Return of the Jedi where the Empire fell. He has also said that this series marks the origins of the First Order.

Apart from that, the fandom community has accurately filled in the gaps while continuing to see how the series proceeds in terms of the overall timeline.

The Final Word

It is now clear that The Mandalorian has its own place when it comes to the Star Wars timeline. As you have already seen, the events of the series take place after the Empire has fallen and nearly 25 years before the establishment of the First Order.

We have also taken you through the brief timeline of the entire franchise so that you can get a better understanding of where this show stands, which is essentially 9 years after the Battle of Yavin.

There are several references in the series to other events in the franchise along with many more to come in the upcoming seasons.