Spoiler Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Season 3 of The Mandalorian.
The Mandalorian will always be Din Djarin's show according to Katee Sackhoff, whose character Bo-Katan Kryze was speculated to be the new main character following Season 3's conclusion.
Speaking to The Direct, Sackhoff said an explicit main character shift was never discussed on set and made clear she believes the show will always belong to its long-time protagonist Din Djarin, played by Pedro Pascal. This comes despite Pascal himself supporting a full takeover by Bo-Katan.
"I think there’s always going to be a lot of speculation in this fandom. You know, I think it’s one of the reasons why people love this fandom so much," Sackhoff said. "And they love this universe so much that a lot of times it allows just enough ambiguity for people to interpret things the way that they want to interpret them. And out of that there is the ability to have a lot of misinformation get out, or just, you know, wishful thinking.
"And I think in this situation, I think that the story of the Mandalorians and the story of Bo-Katan needed to be told, I don’t believe in any way that it was taking away from Din [Djarin’s] story, nor was that ever the intention. And you know, Pedro and I aren’t in charge of who gets to lead the show. This is Din Djarin’s show, it will always be Din Djarin’s show."
The conversation around Bo-Katan becoming the titular Mandalorian wasn't a result of misinformation as Sackhoff claimed, however. Executive producer Rick Famuyiwa confirmed to IGN in April 2023 that Din Djarin is no longer considered the sole titular Mandalorian within Disney. "I think now with Bo possessing the Darksaber, I know that there was a lot of expectations that might have shifted both in terms of what it meant for Din Djarin, but also for Bo," he said.
"Who is the Mandalorian at this point? And so I think it could be anyone. And I think that's what they're trying to define in many ways, is what does that mean to be Mandalorian?"
As mentioned, Pascal himself commented on his character taking a sidestep to Bo-Katan in Season 3 of The Mandalorian too. "I just think it was perfect that we get to meet and see the character, and she gets to do cool s**t in the second season," he said in June 2023. "And then, she gets to take centre stage in the third. It’s what I would want for the character and as a fan of The Clone Wars."
Given the final scene of Season 3, which, final spoiler warning, shows Din Djarin and Grogu seemingly retired from bounty hunting work, fans wondered if this "centre stage" role of Bo-Katan's would result in her becoming the sole focus of Season 4. That's seemingly unlikely given Sackhoff's comments though.
Season 4 of The Mandalorian is all but confirmed despite Disney, strangely, not announcing it officially. Famuyiwa said in June 2023 that it's hard to pinpoint when the next season of The Mandalorian will arrive on Disney+ thanks to the complex collection of different Star Wars shows being made, but it's definitely coming eventually.
Co-creator Jon Favreau also said he was writing the script way back in May 2022, before Season 3 had even premiered, and confirmed it was finished in February.
In our 7/10 review of Season 3, IGN said: "The Mandalorian Season 3 continues to deliver plenty of great action but spent too much time tying into other shows and juggling between competing protagonists as the focus shifted from Din Djarin to Bo-Katan."
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
