Is Din Djarin Still the Main Character of The Mandalorian?

Warning: this article contains full spoilers for The Mandalorian: Chapter 22! If you haven’t already, be sure to check out IGN’s review of “Guns For Hire.”

The latest chapter of The Mandalorian gives voice to something we’ve been wondering for a while. Is Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin actually the main character of the series anymore? In the first two seasons, he’s ostensibly the Mandalorian the title refers to. But, more and more, Din is beginning to feel like a supporting character in the grand scheme of things. Chapter 22 makes a strong case for the idea that Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan is now the show’s real protagonist.

What’s the best way for the writers to move forward now that there seems to be a full pivot to focus on Bo-Katan? Why is Din receding from the spotlight anyway? Here’s why the series needs to find its focus again, and what we can expect now that Bo-Katan once again wields the Darksaber. 

Is Bo-Katan ‘The Mandalorian’ Now?

“Guns For Hire” effectively cements Bo-Katan as the new protagonist of The Mandalorian. That much is symbolized by her accepting the Darksaber from Din. Any potential conflict between the two — despite Din never wanting the Darksaber to begin with — or uncertainty over which character has a better claim to the throne of Mandalore is now put to rest.

For Bo-Katan, regaining ownership of the Darksaber must be a bittersweet experience, considering her history with the blade. She previously accepted the Darksaber from Sabine Wren in the final season of Star Wars Rebels. But as we saw in Rebels, that only resulted in a disastrous reign as Mandalore’s ruler. The fact that Bo-Katan didn’t win the blade in honorable combat tarnished her legitimacy in the eyes of many, and she ultimately lost the Darksaber during the Great Purge of Mandalore.

Bo-Katan’s claim to the Darksaber is stronger now. She didn’t specifically win it from Din in ritualistic combat (as Jon Favreau’s Paz Vizsla attempted in The Book of Boba Fett), but the fact that she used it to defeat the creatures who captured Din in the mines of Mandalore seems to be enough to satisfy Axe Woves and the rest of Bo-Katan’s old crew. She has a legitimacy she lacked before, and that’s not even getting into the fact that she became the first Mandalorian in living memory to see a Mythosaur. That’s a pretty big deal for Mandalorians.

At this point, Bo-Katan has earned the respect and support of both her old Nite Owl team and Din’s cohorts, the Children of the Watch. These are two diametrically opposed factions who are now willing to rally around the same leader. Bo-Katan is beginning to build momentum in her previously abandoned quest to reunify the scattered peoples of Mandalore after urging from The Armorer. And thanks to their handiwork in “The Pirate,” Din and Bo-Katan have even found a new home for their fellow Mandalorians on Nevarro. 

Where Does Din Djarin Go From Here?

Din Djarin undergoes a clear character arc in the first two seasons of The Mandalorian. He starts out as a lone gunfighter, a wandering ronin who plys his trade and slowly assembles his suit of Beskar armor. Encountering Grogu is the catalyst that shakes up Din’s world and forces him to care about someone other than himself. 

Over the course of those two seasons, Din comes to embrace his unlikely role as a father and the idea that some things are more important than the Mandalorian creed. Din’s arc culminates in the penultimate episode of Season 2, where he willingly unmasks himself in order to uncover the information needed to track down Grogu. By the end of Season 2, when Din reluctantly hands Grogu over to Luke Skywalker, his Star Wars journey feels complete. How else does he need to grow as a character?

That’s a question the series has yet to really answer in Season 3. For one thing, The Book of Boba Fett backpedaled by immediately reuniting Din and Grogu and effectively undoing his powerful sacrifice from Season 2. It’s not even clear why it was so important to bring Grogu back into the picture. He’s been little more than a silly background character for the majority of Season 3 so far. Other than recruiting Bo-Katan to save Din back in Episode 2, Grogu could almost be written out of the show entirely with no real impact to the plot. He feels like a character who’s present more because fans expect it than because he’s actually needed.

Nor has the series established a clear path forward for Din himself. What is the next great hurdle for him now that he’s embraced fatherhood and learned to put family above creed? For a while it seemed as though the series might pivot to Din’s reluctant rise as the new leader of Mandalore. But by now it’s obvious he’s not the one being positioned to unite the Mandalorians and rebuild their shattered world.

The Book of Boba Fett also introduced a subplot involving Din’s inability to properly wield the Darksaber. In his clumsy, untrained hands, the blade becomes heavy and cumbersome. The Darksaber became a metaphor for Din’s inner doubts and reluctance to embrace his destiny — or at least his destiny as we perceived it as the audience. Season 3 veers in a different direction, not by having Din embrace that destiny, but by having him hand off the Darksaber to another.

So who is Din Djarin now, and what does he want? What’s standing in his way? About all we have left is Din’s quest to rebuild IG-11, and it’s unclear whether or not he’s given up after being told the repair is impossible. And in any case, bringing back an old character following their heroic sacrifice is just another example of the series clinging to the past rather than trying to chart a new course forward.   

Is There Still Room for Din Djarin in the Mandalorian?

Maybe there’s a valid reason why The Mandalorian hasn’t yet established the way forward for Din Djarin. Perhaps the real question isn’t what Din’s character arc is in Season 3, but why fans still view him as its main character. He certainly doesn’t feel like the central protagonist these days, particularly after “Guns For Hire.” At least for now, this series has become The Bo-Katan Show.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with this approach. As we’ve discussed, Din’s arc felt complete at the end of Season 2. The decision to pivot to a Boba Fett spinoff rather than immediately move into Season 3 only highlighted that fact. There’s no rule saying “The Mandalorian” in question always has to be the same character. 

Rather than bump Boba Fett to a separate spinoff series, perhaps The Book of Boba Fett should have simply been The Mandalorian: Season 3. As things stand, it practically was Season 3 in all but name. Din’s story was wrapped up by that point, so let Boba become the titular Mandalorian. And now that Boba has cemented his new crime family and settled his score with Cad Bane, the focus can shift to Bo-Katan as The Mandalorian. The series can and should act as a rotating chair for whichever Mandalorian character is at the forefront of the Star Wars franchise at that point in time.

At this point, it may be time for the audience to drop the pretense and accept that Bo-Katan has become the new protagonist. Din doesn’t need to be booted out of the picture entirely, but he’s clearly become a secondary priority now that Bo-Katan has emerged as the chosen one destined to unite her divided people. Season 3 is best enjoyed not as the latest chapter in Din’s ongoing saga, but the start of a major shift in focus to Bo-Katan. 

What’s Next for the Mandalorians with Bo-Katan In Charge?

Things are really looking up for Mandalore, which means something inevitably has to go wrong. We are getting close to the Season 3 finale, after all. This is probably where Paul Sun-Hyung Lee’s Carson Teva comes in. In “The Pirate,” Teva discovers evidence that The Mandalorians attacked Moff Gideon’s escort ship and freed him. There’s a good chance that the Mandalorians are being framed here (or that a rogue, pro-Imperial faction is in play), but the end result is the same. The New Republic will take this act of aggression as a declaration of war. And now that Bo-Katan’s supporters have come out of hiding to set up shop on Nevarro, they’ve painted a target on their backs the Republic can’t ignore.   

It’s probably too early in the series for Bo-Katan to rally all of her people and return them to Mandalore. For now, we suspect Season 3 will culminate in a major battle between the New Republic Rangers and Bo-Katan’s growing army. Whichever side loses, Moff Gideon and the Empire stand to win. Bo-Katan’s first test as leader will be in finding a solution that doesn’t involve making a permanent enemy out of the New Republic or sacrificing many of the soldiers she worked so hard to win.

For more on The Mandalorian, brush up on the series’ release schedule and learn about a possible major connection to The Bad Batch.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.