The Mandalorian season 3 isn’t set to come back until 2022, but when the show does return, it will do so without the one character that has stolen the hearts of everyone. Grogu, or as fans know him, Baby Yoda, was carried away by Luke Skywalker in the season 2 finale, to be trained in the ways of the Force. Can the show still be good without its most adorable character?
It’s impossible to discuss the success of The Mandalorian without bringing up Grogu. From the moment The Child appeared on screen, fans were fascinated. Particularly because, for a long time, his face was the only one belonging to a main character viewers got to see. But there’s also the fact that he was just super adorable. Disney has always been good at capitalizing on characters who have merchandising potential, but Grogu exceeded even the media giant’s expectations on its way to becoming a pop culture reference.
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Star Wars has seen its share of adorable characters, and it’s hard to say any of them have left the mark Baby Yoda has. Everyone was obsessed with porgs for a little while there, but that was over quickly. BB-8 continues to be adorable, but most people would still pick R2-D2 if they had to choose. And the difference between Baby Yoda and the admittedly cute porgs, and adorable robot with a preference for Poe Dameron is clear: Baby Yoda had a storyline. He wasn’t just a prop; he was a fully fleshed character with feelings.
But he was never the center of the show. If anything, Grogu was always the driving force, the thing meant to convince us that our main character was capable of humanity. Grogu didn’t have a character arc, as much as he was the reason Mando did things. With that part of the storyline over, and off to much more important pursuits, it’s time for Mando to re-discover who he is outside of Grogu, and maybe, who he has become because of Grogu. This is a very interesting storyline to follow, and one that, paired with the fight for Mandalore which is likely coming, could make for a fascinating season 3, even sans Baby Yoda.
Grogu’s cultural footprint is unlikely to diminish, even if the character is no longer on the show. At this point, most Star Wars fans have either purchased or will purchase some “Baby Yoda” merchandise, and there are scores of viral TikToks featuring look alike toys. But the question of whether the show that made him famous can continue to be successful even without its most recognizable face shouldn’t be so hard to answer. This is, after all, a critically acclaimed show which features a star as the lead and big names behind the scenes. The answer should be obvious.
If it isn’t it’s because for most casual fans The Mandalorian became the Baby Yoda show. Not Grogu, no, because casual fans never bothered to learn his name. The Baby Yoda show. Maybe, tangentially, the Mando and Baby Yoda show, but as is the case in these things, the baby is always the star. And with the Baby Yoda show now over, conventional thinking indicates all that is left is just hardcore Star Wars fans. The thing is, of course, there are a lot of those, as the box office for the last three Star Wars movies proves. And those fans are likely to still show up, with or without Grogu.
This, of course, has no bearing on the actual quality of The Mandalorian. It’s hard to argue Grogu was the only good thing about a show that sustained consistent storytelling, touched upon themes of chosen family and the ways people take care of each other, delved into recognizable Star Wars lore in ways that have already spawned one spin-off, and had people interested in stories told in a galaxy far, far away, even though no Skywalkers were present. Before The Mandalorian, stand-alone projects in the Star Wars universe were mostly seen as a risk. Now, Disney is going full steam ahead with multiple ones.
Grogu might have been pushing a lot of the social media chatter around the show, but he wasn’t single-handedly responsible for the quality. And with the show set to delve into Mandalore in season 3, a storyline Star Wars: The Clone Wars fans have been eager to dive into, there’s no reason to believe a drop-off in quality is in the show’s future. The show might be much less adorable going forward, but it’s hard to believe it will be less interesting. There is much more to The Mandalorian than Grogu, though that doesn’t mean we’d be against seeing him again in the future. Even if we don’t need Grogu, we will always want Grogu. That is the way.
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