‘The Mandalorian’ Feels Like The Diet Coke Of ‘Star Wars’

The Mandalorian has returned to Disney+, and the season 3 premiere is underwhelming, especially in the wake of the magnificent Andor.

The Mandalorian is starting to feel like the “Diet Coke” of Star Wars, an attempt to replicate the distinctive flavor of the classic trilogy, with none of the calories, an inexplicably popular clone with a hollow aftertaste.

The premiere, titled “The Apostate,” sees Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) embark on one of his videogame fetch quests, accompanied by adorable animatronic Baby “Grogu” Yoda. This might come as a surprise to the casual viewer, considering that the two chose to separate in the finale of season 2, but that weighty, emotional moment was undone in another Star Wars show, The Book of Boba Fett.

A major plot point occurring during a separate show isn’t nearly as confusing as the hazy timeline; according to a recent comment from creator Jon Favreau, Din Djarin and Grogu have actually been adventuring for “many years,” and a couple of years have passed since the two were reunited in The Book of Boba Fett. For a show intended to be simple, pulpy fun, things are getting surprisingly muddled.

Already, The Mandalorian is resurrecting fan favorites; IG-11, a droid from the first season (and a tribute to IG-88, a droid from the original trilogy), is due to be repaired for another adventure. In Star Wars, no one’s ever really gone.

There’s a lot of clunky dialogue, bad jokes and exposition, some fun action sequences, dodgy prosthetics and cool, Henson-esque puppets. A group of droid repairmen based on Babu Frik, the beloved creature from The Rise of Skywalker, also appear (if The Mandalorian is Diet Coke, then The Rise of Skywalker is surely New Coke).

Multiple characters in The Mandalorian are homages to iconic characters from classic Star Wars, down to Din Djarin and Grogu. Famously, the show even resurrected young Luke Skywalker as a lifeless CGI clone with a deadpan, auto-generated voice; Diet Luke.

Of course, The Mandalorian isn’t all bad; giant monsters and quirky aliens keep the show fun, almost like a live-action animation. And clearly, the show is aimed at children and their nostalgic parents; it’s not meant to be taken too seriously.

But in contrast to the dizzying heights of Andor, a deep dive into the inner workings of the Rebellion, a fresh, sophisticated story from an exhausted franchise, The Mandalorian feels noticeably empty. It’s Star Wars, without the sugar.

And yet, I feel compelled to keep watching. As former President Donald Trump once said of Diet Coke: “that’s okay, I’ll still keep drinking that garbage.”