The Mandalorian returned to Disney+ this week, and that meant only one thing – more Grogu cuteness for the internet to coo over.
The return of The Mandalorian comes with one guarantee – the internet’s love of Grogu will once again rear its head. The premiere of season 3 of the popular Star Wars series didn’t waste much time in throwing fans back into the world of Din Djarin. Along with the introduction of a new mission for the titular bounty hunter, Chapter 17 of the series also delivered plenty of moments featuring everyone’s favorite little green traveling companion.
Ever since his first appearance in the opening episode of The MandalorianGrogu aka Baby Yoda caught the attention of the public and became a phenomenon that has not lost any of its appeal. Although Grogu seemed to be heading on a path that did not follow the way of the Mandalorian in the finale of season 2, thanks to the events of The Book of Boba Fettthe Star Wars dream team kick off the new season together again, taking on pirates and looking to find their way to the planet of Mandalore.
For many fans of the show, the highlight of the season premiere has been Grogu’s increasingly toddler-like actions, and it did not take long for social media to be flooded with fan-favorite moments. Check out some of the love being shown for Grogu on Twitter:
The Mandalorian’s Season 3 Premiere Comes Up Short
Ahead of The Mandalorian’s season debut, it was reported that the episode was going to be shortest of any live-action Star Wars series. While this is sometimes not a bad thing, the amount packed into the opening episode of season 3 seemed to make the action a bit too rushed. This is something that was noted by Movieweb’s Julian Roman, who said of the episode:
“Mando’s return has monsters, blaster-slinging action, a space dogfight, and gurgling Grogu cuteness, but it all felt rushed. The lean runtime packs a mountain of exposition in a breezey 37 minutes, when a solid hour would’ve done it a world of good…These characters need additional growth beyond a half hour runtime; as of now, the whole thing just feels robotic.”
The Mandalorian has a lot to live up to with its new season, and while the first episode has started with plenty of action it clearly needs to spend a little more time on character as well as continuing to deliver the kind of spectacle the Star Wars franchise has always been capable of. There is obviously a long way still to go in the latest season, and director Rick Famuyiwa previously promised that there will be a lot of expansion over season 3. He said:
“For me, the foundation has always been that simple relationship between Mando and Grogu. The adventures get bigger and the characters you meet might be as iconic as Luke Skywalker, but it’s always in the service of that simple story. That’s taken us to bigger and bigger places, and certainly, this season is the biggest yet.”
The Mandalorian releases new episodes on Disney+ each Wednesday.