Why is the Mandalorian so popular? Well, in order to answer that question, we will have to look at
the many elements that make up the show. It’s no doubt that the reaction to the Mandalorian
has been nothing less than astounding. With episodes 7, 8, and 9 of the Skywalker saga,
the reaction to the Star Wars sequels has been a rocky road…to say the least. Once the Rise of
Skywalker released, it seemed Star Wars fans had almost lost faith in the Disney era of Star Wars.
But merely two months prior, the Mandalorian season 1 began airing.
The Mandalorian reaction was greater than any of the other Disney era Star Wars projects.
But I ask again, why is the Mandalorian so popular? Today, on Star Wars Fanatic!
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on all my Mandalorian and Star Wars discussions. Now, back to the topic!
I asked in the beginning, why is the Mandalorian so popular? That’s a tough question to answer. Not
impossible, though. There is an easy answer, but it doesn’t encompass all the fans of the Disney
+ series…Grogu…or Baby Yoda. At least, that’s the answer you’ll get from people who just became fans
due to the Mandalorian. But there is so much more to it. More than just Baby Yoda doing cute things.
Star Wars has been around since 1977. In that time, we have had 9 films and two serious series.
But most of that dealt with a Skywalker in some way. With the films being about the Skywalker
lineage, the Clone Wars being about Anakin Skywalker, and Rebels, having spin off arcs
about Darth Vader and Anakin’s former apprentice, Ahsoka Tano. The Star Wars stories never veered
too far away from what worked…Anakin’s turn to the dark side. That is, until the Mandalorian.
Let’s leave out the fact that Luke Skywalker showed up at the end of the Mandalorian Season 2.
Why leave that out? Because it was a bonus. The show was already so popular before that moment.
The story also didn’t revolve around Luke. It was about getting Grogu to a Jedi in order
to be trained safely. Luke just happened to be the one to show up. Another point
to be made is that Ahsoka’s appearance in the show did not detract from the story.
I was a little worried that it would, but her arc was very limited and only gave a brief glimpse
into what may come of her own spinoff. Also, by the time Ahsoka Tano showed up in the Mandalorian,
it was already better received than the sequel trilogy. She was another bonus.
So why IS the Mandalorian so popular? If not for the cameos, easter eggs, and throwbacks,
what makes the Mandalorian so appealing? From my point of view, it isn’t as simple as “because it
isn’t a Skywalker story.” But it digs deep into my favorite culture in the Star Wars universe…the
Mandalorians. But this show also offers a lot of mystery. Such as, who are Mando’s
parents? I actually made a theory video on this a while back, and how I believe them the being
disciples of the Whills, a religious sect that protects certain aspects of Force knowledge.
Other mysteries created in the show are, why can’t Mandalorians remove their helmets to reveal their
faces? What happened during the Imperial purge of Mandalore, and are Mandalorians good guys? I know
these seem a bit superficial, but these questions have kept me coming back and wanting more.
The question about Mandalorians removing their helmets has almost been answered.
Not directly, but Bo-Katan Kryze told Mando that his organization, the Children of the
Watch are a religious group of zealots. So, not all Mandalorians practice the same beliefs. One
could absolutely remove their helmets and remain Mandalorian. Whether Din Djarin can return to his
group is another question. Hopefully that will be answered in the upcoming Mandalorian Season 3.
What happened during the Imperial Purge of Mandalore, is another that fans want to see.
We have a rough idea, but we don’t know the exact timeline.
And Are the Mandalorians good guys? Well, like any society, there are good people,
and there are bad people. There are also those in the middle, that have every intention
of doing good in their decisions but there are negative consequences of their actions.
But none of these mysteries are what makes the Mandalorian so popular.
The Mandalorian has been based on a number of classic genres. From the Samurai stories of Lone
wolf and Cub to the Spaghetti Westerns of the Man with no name. These elements mixed into a
Star Wars setting worked very well. Especially considering Kurosawa was a huge influence on
George Lucas in his original ideas for Star Wars. But a lot of the fans don’t know about these
elements, or just like what they like. So there is more to it than even the thematic elements.
So, let’s get to the general reasoning, why is the Mandalorian so popular?
In simple form…it’s different. Not just different from other series around, but different from other
Star Wars projects. It isn’t about a particular space wizard or his family that we have been
following for over 40 years. Not that the Skywalkers have become boring, at all. Just that
it was time to refresh. And the Mandalorian did exactly that. It was fresh. Sure, the Mandalorians
and their stories have been around for a while, but even in the Clone Wars, the Mandalorian
culture was a crutch to prop up the Skywalker story. Now, it’s its own story and is getting
the attention a lot of hardcore fans have been begging for since Mandalorians became a thing.
This show isn’t there to prop up a Skywalker, or even the Galactic Government that happens
to be in charge at the time. Bill Burr’s character summed that up the best, “the Empire,
the New republic, it doesn’t matter to these people. One in ruling and one is being ruled.”
To me, that sums up some of the themes going on in the Mandalorian. Yes! The Republic and the
Empire are in the show, but it would be hard to stay completely away from either entity
due to the civil war going on. Compared to the Mandalorian population, that of the galactic
warring factions is so much more numerous. So, you can’t stay away from it completely.
But this show digs deeper into Mandalorian, lore, myth, and stories. It takes our mind off the other
elements at play. When the Empire kidnapped Grogu, we didn’t care about the Republic
beating the Empire. We cared about Mando getting his surrogate child back. And he did it with the
help of other Mandalorians, not the New Republic. In fact, he had run into almost as much trouble
with the New Republic as he had with the Empire. They tried to shoot him down. So,
it shows he is a Mandalorian…not embedded with one of the warring factions.
The Mandalorian is so popular because it strays away from Galactic Politics, the Skywalkers,
and sticks to this lone bounty hunter confused on his feelings for his foundling, until he
realizes this is his clan. It focuses on family, honor, and doing what’s right for his own clan.
Not what is going to be right for freedom. Freedom is a word that can be skewed from
one point of view to the next, and this show does not focus on that. It stays away from the state of
the galaxy as a whole and sticks to the everyday people affected by its changing climate. It moved
away from duty, and more toward making the right decisions because it’s the right thing to do.
Not because it will bring glory to one faction or another. That’s a big reason the Mandalorian
is so popular. I also tend to think it’s Din Djarin’s mustache. He looks like he has a 1987
Camaro I-Roc Z in his garage, or he plays hockey off screen. Yeah, that’s the era I grew up in.
But in all seriousness, the Mandalorian has done great things in the Star Wars fandom. There are
at least two spinoffs coming from the show. The Ahsoka series, and the Book of Boba Fett series,
which begins airing on December 29. If you haven’t yet, check out my breakdown of the first Book of
Boba Fett trailer. I’ll link it at the end of this video. Not only all that, but the Mandalorian is
widely enjoyed by the Star Wars fandom. Finally, something we can mostly agree on together.
But these are my own reasons as to why the Mandalorian is so popular.
Let me know in the comments if you have different ideas as to why it is universally loved.
I can’t wait to see what you have to say.
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