Debuting this week on Disney + is the newest season of the most successful Disney + creation, The Mandalorian. Picking up from the events of The Book of Boba Fett, where the Mandalorian was successfully reunited with his charge Grogu, aka ‘Baby Yoda’, The Mandalorian once again sees the unlikely duo adventuring again. This time around, Grogu possesses more ability using ‘The Force’ after spending time under Jedi Master Luke Skywalker’s tutelage after the events of Mandalorian Season 2. Season 3 also marks the first time audiences will be watching a Mandalorian series after the well-publicized split between Disney and Gina Carano who played the recurring character Cara Dune, so audiences will be interested to see how that character is played out through the season, if at all.

Din Djarin aka The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) opens this season looking for a way to reenter the embrace of the ‘Children of the Watch’, the Mandalorian clan of his upbringing, after violating the rule of removing his helmet voluntarily in the previous season. Hoping for help, Din is only met with dismissal from The Armorer (Emily Swallow) as she informs him he is now an Apostate, and can no longer be welcomed as a Mandalorian. Not willing to accept this status, Din comes up with a crazy plan to re-baptize himself using the sacred waters underground on the now desolate home world of Mandalore. Din turns to some old friends for help, including Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) and Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff), neither of which seem inclined to help him in this undertaking. Once again, it appears that Mando and his little Grogu stand alone together against the world.

For the purposes of this review, we were granted access to the first 2 episodes of the new season but we have chosen to only talk in detail about the events of the first episode, which is now available to everyone on Disney +,  to avoid getting too spoiler-y. For fans of The Mandalorian that found The Book of Boba Fett offshoot wildly uneven like myself, it will be comforting to see how easily the new season falls back into the groove. This is still the Mandalorian we fell in love with, and while the first episode brings some action along with it, the second episode brings some real peril and invests the audiences back into this universe for the rest of the season. By the end of episode 2, I was ready for more immediately. The show addresses the Cara Dune situation almost immediately or at least sets it aside in a way that makes her story passable for the rest of the season, but advances Karga and Bo-Katan’s stories at the same time, making the disappearance of Cara Dune even less of an issue.

By now, Pedro Pascal has become one of our most trusted television and streaming actors. Between Mando and his turn as Joel in HBO’s The Last of Us, Pedro is performing at a level many actors wish they could achieve. Din Djarin still spends most of his time under a mask so that we as the audience can’t even be sure its physically him on screen most of the time,. But Pascal’s ability to emote even under the metallic voice box of Din’s mask elevates his performance and has made him a fan favorite.

Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan seems poised for an increased role on the show this year, which should be embraced by fans as her work is excellent as usual. Bo-Katan is now basically a ruler without people after the events of Season 2, an interesting dichotomy that could be played out over the course of the season. The first episode also sets up an adversary for both Greef Karga and the Mandalorian that the show is sure to play out by the end of the season, allowing audiences more time with the always dependable Carl Weathers, who quite frankly deserves more screen time.

Show creators and runners Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are sure to reintroduce characters along the course of the season. Appearances by Temuerua Morrison’s Boba Fett, Ming-Na Wen’s Fennec Shand, Amy Sedaris’ Peli Motto, and Mercedes Varnado’s Koska Reeves are not confirmed to return but are heavily likely based on previous season events. One character that is shown as a possible return is the destroyed droid IG-11 (voiced by Taika Waititi). The Mandalorian seems determined to restore it even if the parts to repair the droid are impossible to find. Having characters like Black Krrsanthan, Cobb Vanth or even Cad Bane cross over from Book of Boba Fett might be intriguing to see as well. The Mandalorian has certainly not shied away from delving deep into Star Wars lore before.

Of course, Star Wars obsessed fans will pour over every little detail of these first episodes, with many deep dive and ‘hidden meaning’ videos to appear on YouTube over the next few weeks no doubt. But for general audiences, there is still a lot to like about the upcoming season of The Mandalorian as well. The world of the Mandalorian is still expanding with season 3 and audiences will be sure to hang on for the ride. After seeing just 2 episodes so far, I know I’m certainly dying to see where the rest of the season is heading.