The Mandalorian season 3 starts filming "soon," according to Giancarlo Esposito

Moff Gideon in The Mandalorian
(Image credit: Disney/Lucasfilm)

The Mandalorian season 3 starts filming "soon," Moff Gideon actor Giancarlo Esposito has said.

"They just finished shooting Boba Fett, and soon they will start on season 3 of  Mandalorian," Esposito said at GalaxyCon (H/T WRAL). 

The actor also explained that the series didn't have to wait for Pedro Pascal, who is currently filming The Last of Us TV show. "I don't know what Pedro's up to. We never have to wait on Pedro," Esposito commented. Pascal plays the HBO show's lead character Joel, with Game of Thrones' Bella Ramsey portraying Ellie. Production is reportedly set to run until June 2022, but as Din Djarin's face is often hidden behind his Beskar helmet, filming on The Mandalorian can continue even if Pascal isn't on set.  

As for whether Gideon will be back in season 3, Esposito joked: "Yes, you're going to see me kill this baby. [Laughs] How about that? It's totally wrong, but you know what, I've got to hold out somewhere that I'm going to win."

In the season 2 finale, Gideon was taken prisoner by Mando and co. after kidnapping Baby Yoda earlier in the series. While Din rescued his tiny green charge, Grogu ended up going off with Luke Skywalker for Jedi training – which could be revisited in season 3, because Esposito also teased that the Child has a significant power. "I am going to get this child, and it's for a very different reason than many people think," the actor said. "This child has magic powers, 50 years old, and can see the future, and we want everyone to know, eventually on this show, that this child could save our universe." 

The Mandalorian season 3 is currently shrouded in secrecy, but a recent report suggests that The Book of Boba Fett will be like "The Mandalorian season 2.5," with Mando characters appearing in the spinoff. That means we could be seeing Din Djarin sooner than expected, as well as potentially characters like Bo-Katan Kryze or Ahsoka Tano.

The Book of Boba Fett arrives at the end of this year. While you wait, check out our guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows – including Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor.

Molly Edwards
Entertainment Writer

I'm an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.