While the sequels aren't a universally loved part of Star Wars, the vast majority of fans love The Mandalorian. Fans get enough of the adventures of Din Djarin and Grogu and the third season is highly anticipated. The show has proven to be a huge success, rehabilitating the image of Star Wars and moving mountains of merchandise, with Grogu becoming a sensation that even people who don't watch the show love.
Borrowing from The Clone Wars, Rebels, and the original trilogy, fans can't help but speculate on who will show up on the show next and this is just one part of the show's success. Lucasfilm can learn a lot from the lessons of The Mandalorian.
10 Everybody Loves Luke Skywalker And Wants To See Him Succeed
One of the biggest moments in The Mandalorian was the end of the second season finale and Luke Skywalker saving the day. Fans lost their minds for this moment- there are umpteen YouTube videos showing these reactions- and it proved one thing- everyone loves Luke Skywalker and they love him even more when he's doing his Jedi stuff.
This is something that the sequels got completely wrong- no one wants to see depressed Luke. People want Luke Skywalker being the Jedi hero they saw in the original trilogy. Luke took Grogu away for training and fans are chomping at the bit to see Skywalker and Djarin meet up again. Luke Skywalker equals fan happiness and Lucasfilm should remember that.
9 A Different Part Of The Star Wars Universe Deserves A Chance To Be Showcased
Fans got a glimpse into the seedier side of Star Wars with Han Solo and Chewbacca's dealing with Jabba the Hutt and while Legends continuity expanded on the criminal side of things, none of that is canon anymore. The Mandalorian was the first time most fans got a real look at how things worked on that side and they love it.
Star Wars has long had lots of great bounty hunters and The Mandalorian used a bounty hunter as its main character, also bringing back Boba Fett. Lucasfilm has already taken this lesson to heart with its announcement of The Book Of Boba Fett and they should keep going with this, shining a light on new corners of the Star Wars universe, and showing fans just how varied and rich the stories therein can be.
8 The Rich History Of Mandalore Needs To Be Explored
The Mandalorian has shone light on the Mandalorian race, showing different faces of it than viewers have seen before. Din Djarin is a very different Mandalorian than the ones that fans saw in The Clone Wars- he's not a pacifist and is a foundling- not a born Mandalorian but an orphan taken in by other Mandos.
Fans learned a lot about the Mandalorians from the show and they want to know more. The next season looks to deal a lot with the planet and its people and that's a good thing. Plus, if the show can bring in more Legends canon Mandalorians and their history, it will make the race a more rich group.
7 Keep Fans Guessing With Appropriate Twists And New Ideas
Social media gives fans a huge outlet for their fandom, allowing them to share how they feel and put forth all kinds of theories about the things they love. It's also allowed them to share what they don't like and can often be an echo chamber that hurts fandoms; Star Wars has suffered a lot in recent years because of this. However, The Mandalorian has changed all of that.
Fans love to speculate on what will happen next in the show and what characters will appear on both it and in upcoming Disney+ shows. The show has lit a fire in the fandom, getting them to share what they love and what they think will happen next. This is a very good thing- fans engaging with the show and trying to figure out what comes next are fans who love what they're seeing.
6 Meaningful Connections Make The Fandom Happy (But Not Everything Needs To Be Connected)
One of the problems with the sequel trilogy is how little any of it really feels connected to anything. A lot of this has to do with the paucity of the lore- everything felt like it was done to reboot things and copy the successes of the original trilogy. Even when original trilogy characters appeared, they mostly felt like they were there to tick boxes off than for meaningful story reasons and when they were important, most fans didn't like how they were treated.
The Mandalorian is different; it uses things from the past in meaningful ways. The Darksaber is extremely important and will remain that way. Characters from other Star Wars media appear and it matters. This is the way to use things from the past and Lucasfilm should remember this.
5 Stop Nerfing Stormtroopers, Doing So Lessens The Stakes In Certain Scenes
If there's one complaint that many fans have shared about The Mandalorian, it's that the main characters are rarely in any danger. Now, main characters are rarely in any danger but The Mandalorian doubles down on that because of beskar armor. Another problem is just how incompetent stormtroopers are, the glass cannons of Star Wars.
Stormtroopers don't get a lot of love in Star Wars media. Continuing to nerf them and make them seem incompetent and robs events of dramatic stakes. No one believes they are dangerous and that needs to stop.
4 People Want To Know About Yoda and Grogu's Species
Grogu, known as Baby Yoda to people who don't watch the show, is the biggest merchandise sensation of any Disney owned property in years. Frozen and Moana were big but have died out, with even the second Frozen movie unable to match the first one's ubiquity. People love Grogu and want to know more about his and Yoda's species.
Star Wars fans have wanted to know more about Yoda's species for years and Grogu gives them a look into that species, showing a different part of their development. This shows just how much fans want to know more about them and this could be a fruitful path for Lucasfilm to go down.
3 Fan Service Isn't Bad, But It Needs To Make Sense
One of the defenses that many people (including Lucasfilm story group employees) use to defend the sequels is that people didn't get their fan service and that's why they didn't like the new movies. This makes it seem like fan service is bad and there's an argument to made there; many of the failures of The Rise Of Skywalker can be laid at the feet of fan service.
The Mandalorian proves that fan service, when done right, isn't a bad thing. People loved the return of characters like Boba Fett, Bo-Katan, and Ahsoka Tano because they were well done and respectful to the characters. Not only were fans given what they wanted, they were given it in ways that even people who know nothing about those characters can still enjoy them.
2 People Love The Filoni-verse
Dave Filoni has become a large part of the behind the scenes Star Wars universe. A pupil of George Lucas, Filoni was the guiding light of The Clone Wars and Rebels, two pieces of Star Wars media that fans love. He's one of the executive producers and writers of the show, which uses a lot of things that he helped create.
Every time that parts of what is sometimes referred to as the Filoni-verse appears in The Mandalorian, fans eat it up. Lucasfilm would be wise to remember this and use more of what Filoni has created in future projects.
1 Long-Form Shows Are Better For Future Star Wars Adaptations
The sequels had a big problem- too many of the things that fans wanted and needed to know weren't included in the movies. A factor in this is time constraints; only so much can be in a two and a half hour movie. A show like The Mandalorian has way more time and can fit a lot more in to every season.
This is a very good thing and should be considered as the future of Star Wars. Fans love Star Wars and want as much of it as possible and the best place for that is on Disney+ shows. Lucasfilm would do well to remember that.