The official trailer for The Mandalorian season 3 could hint that the show is setting up the sequels more overtly than previously thought. Since season 1 and the introduction of Grogu, Empire-based Cloning doctors, and the New Republic elements, theories have circulated surrounding The Mandalorian's sequel trilogy setup. This was only furthered by season 2, which saw more details surrounding the Grogu, Midichlorians, and Cloning come to the forefront in episode 4: "The Siege".
With the release of the official trailer for The Mandalorian season 3, co-creators Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni hint at more Mandalorian-based storytelling in the early days of the New Republic. However, the official trailer also highlights more sequel trilogy set up as the show moves further along the Star Wars timeline. While there are still over 20 years between The Mandalorian season 3 and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the show seems to be continuing to include elements that are seemingly intrinsically linked to Disney's sequels.
Paul Sun-Hyung Lee’s Carson Teva Hints At The Rise Of The First Order
The Mandalorian season 3's official trailer sees the appearance of the recurring character Carson Teva, played by Paul Sun-Hyung Lee. In the trailer, Teva says "There's something dangerous happening out there, and by the time it becomes big enough for you to act, it'll be too late." This provides strong evidence that The Mandalorian season 3 is already setting up the rise of the First Order. This links to Teva's previous appearances on both The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.
Carson Teva is one of the main New Republic officers focused on in Favreau's Mandalorian universe. In The Mandalorian season 2's aforementioned episode "The Siege", Carson Teva approached Cara Dune stating that he thinks the Imperial remnants in the Outer Rim are part of something larger. He states that the Core Worlds do not believe something bigger is happening, but that he needs to stop it before it is too late. This is similar to his words in The Mandalorian season 3's trailer, hinting at Teva being the one to uncover the beginnings of the First Order.
Din Djarin Could Directly Oppose The Rise Of The First Order
The Mandalorian season 3 official trailer is cut together to make it look like Teva is speaking directly to Din Djarin when mentioning these First Order hints. While this could just be a trick of the edit, mainly due to Teva and Djarin being in seemingly different environments, it is possible that this is the case and Mando will play a bigger role in opposing the early First Order of the Star Wars galaxy. This could be ed by Teva and Mando's previous meetings in The Mandalorian season 2 and The Book of Boba Fett.
The first face-to-face meeting between the two came in The Mandalorian season 2's second episode, "The enger". After chasing Mando for freeing a prisoner during season 1, Teva states that Din also tried to save Matt Lanter's prison guard while apprehending three other fugitives. Due to Din's actions, Teva is willing to let Din go free.
The next meeting comes above Tatooine in which Teva pulls Mando over after speeding next to a public cruiser. After recognizing Din's voice, Teva lets him off with a warning and wishes to question him about his dealings with Imperial remnants on Nevarro. However, Din flies away in his new N-1 Starfighter, with Teva opting to let him go once again due to the Mandalorian's past assistance with New Republic issues.
These meetings show that Carson Teva has respect for Mando due to the latter's actions. From imprisoning New Republic fugitives to directly opposing Imperial remnants, Teva values Mando's attributes. This could continue in The Mandalorian season 3, with Teva potentially attempting to push Mando into opposing the Imperials left in the galaxy before they become stronger. If the rumors are to be believed that Paul Sun Hyung-Lee will be taking the story intended for Gina Carano's Cara Dune, having Teva and the Mandalorian potentially fighting Imperial remnants together would make sense, and could lead to Din's greater involvement in the early days of the First Order.
Could Thrawn Be Behind The First Order In The Mandalorian?
Something else that could potentially connect the world of The Mandalorian - and the original trilogy - to the sequels is Grand iral Thrawn. While The Mandalorian season 3's official trailer does not exactly provide evidence of this, the plot synopsis for the season does. In the official synopsis for The Mandalorian season 3, Din Djarin will apparently face "new enemies" as "the New Republic struggles to lead the galaxy away from its dark history". While a Thrawn appearance in The Mandalorian was once thought unlikely, the show's second season tied the Imperial officer to Ahsoka Tano.
While Thrawn's appearance is confirmed for Ahsoka, he could also be set up in The Mandalorian season 3. Through The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, which have been confirmed to culminate in a tie-in event-like story in the future, Thrawn could be established as the leader of the Imperial remnants that Mando has been clashing with. As Thrawn's future past his last canon appearance in Star Wars: Rebels season 4 is a mystery, it could easily be written that Thrawn is leading the experiments to see the creation of Snoke/Palpatine's clones which sees the rise of the First Order, which could be the New Republics dark history mentioned as Thrawn opposed the Rebels.
Pershing In The Mandalorian S3 Can Further Connect To Palpatine & Snoke Cloning
Another element from The Mandalorian season 3's trailer that hints at connections to the sequels is Doctor Pershing. In the official trailer, Pershing can be seen on Coruscant after his appearances in both The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2. Pershing was the lead doctor employed by the Empire to run experiments on Grogu. These experiments were revealed to be due to Grogu's high Midichlorian count in The Mandalorian, with the infant's blood being injected into voluntary test subjects. This was shown in The Mandalorian season 2, episode 4 "The Siege".
This only continued to provide evidence to the theory that the Imperial remnants wish to use Grogu to carry out Palpatine's plan of cheating death. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker confirmed that Palpatine used clones, including Snoke, to build the First Order and continue his planned conquest of the galaxy. Through Grogu, the theory spawned that Grogu is instrumental in allowing the Empire to create Force-sensitive clones of Palpatine, leading to Snoke and the First Order. With Pershing appearing in The Mandalorian season 3, it seems as though this storyline will only continue to provide more potential evidence to the setup of the sequels.
The Mandalorian S3 May Explain Why Coruscant Was Replaced As The New Republic's Capital
One surprising element of The Mandalorian season 3 is Coruscant, the former capital of the Republic and Galactic Empire. While the change of the New Republic's capital to Hosnian Prime has been explained in wider Star Wars canon, with the New Republic opting for a cyclical rotation of planets serving as the capital, The Mandalorian season 3 could explore this in live-action canon. According to other Star Wars projects, Coruscant fell into an almost permanent state of lawlessness after the fall of the Empire, which could be explored in The Mandalorian season 3.
This could tie into why the planet was no longer used as the permanent base of the New Republic. Also, Coruscant has a troubled history with it being the seat of power for a corrupt Republic and a tyrannical Empire. This could tie to the synopsis of the New Republic struggling to wipe clean the dark history of the galaxy through Coruscant's inclusion. Coruscant is also known to be one of the worlds which adopts a Centrist political stance. Centrists believed that the Empire had some value, with many of their ideologies being similar. Eventually, the Centrists seceded from the New Republic to form the political branch of the First Order.
All of this could be included in The Mandalorian season 3 to further set up the fall of the New Republic, the rise of the First Order, and the politics that saw both of these events happen. All of this could further explain why Coruscant fell out of favor in of being the central seat of the galaxy. It would not only fix the mistake of the post-prequel lack of Coruscant content, but further multiple storylines going forward for The Mandalorian season 3.