The Mandalorian and Grogu timeline is a bit of a tricky one to figure it out. The film brings back one of the galaxy's best on-screen pairings for a new feature-length adventure. Starring Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin, the new movie sees him join forces with his young apprentice Grogu to go on a mission for the New Republic.
They're brought in by Sigourney Weaver's Colonel Ward to locate Jabba the Hutt's son Rotta the Hutt for his aunt and uncle in exchange for getting some intel on a missing Imperial target.
Much like the TV show, The Mandalorian and Grogu takes place right in the middle of Star Wars timeline. However, you'd be forgiven if you needed a little bit of a reminder about when exactly that is. This is especially true as sometimes the events crossover with the wider universe and other times they stay pretty separate. Well, that's where we come in. Below we've taken a deep dive into when exactly the movie fits in, including breaking down exactly what that means in the wider context of the Star Wars universe. This is the Way to our ultimate The Mandalorian and Grogu timeline guide.
When is The Mandalorian and Grogu set on the Star Wars timeline? *SPOILERS*
The Mandalorian and Grogu takes place after the events of main series. The first two seasons of The Mandalorian on Disney Plus took place in around 9 ABY with the third season taking place two years later in 11 ABY.
It's not confirmed exactly how long after the third season that the new movie begins, but it seems likely that a bit of time has passed. We last saw Mando and Grogu settled on Nevarro and when we meet them again in The Mandalorian and Grogu, they're officially in action as bounty hunters.
In the movie, it's clear they've worked with the New Republic on several missions too. So it seems a least a year or two have passed since they started out. It's long enough too that after their work finding Rotta the Hutt, Mando says that he wants to take a break.
We're going to suggest that we're likely in 12/13 ABY then, based on all of this. The whole movie takes place over the course of likely a week or so, meaning that we won't be jumping far beyond this either. The longest time gap is when Mando is mortally wounded after being bitten by a dragon snake, which likely takes at most a week.
Now you might be wondering what exactly 12 ABY means in the grand scheme of the Star Wars timeline. On a broader level, we are in the 30-year gap between the original Star Wars trilogy and the sequel trilogy.
This is the era of The New Republic after the fall of the Empire. This takes place from around 5 ABY until 34 ABY. After this, The First Order rises, which is the era of the sequel trilogy.
As a result, there are a lot of callbacks in The Mandalorian to the familiar world of the original Star Wars movies. In the show these covered everything from Stormtrooper helmets to an actual Luke Skywalker cameo. In the movie, the main reference comes from the introduction of Rotta the Hutt, who is Jabba the Hutt's now grown-up son. There are several other The Mandalorian and Grogu Easter eggs too, including some cameos from The Clone Wars and Rebels characters.
The gap between the end of 12 ABY and the rise of the First Order in 34 ABY is still being filled up in the wider world of Star Wars. We expect to see more exploration of this in the upcoming Ahsoka season 2 as well as the announced Dave Filoni universe movie, which will bring these characters back to the big screen.
The Mandalorian and Grogu is out in theaters now. For more, check out our breakdown of all the upcoming Star Wars movies and shows on the way as well as reading our The Mandalorian and Grogu review.
