Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3, Episode 1.

It’s been more than a year since we last saw Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu during the events of The Book of Boba Fett. And if we think back to The Mandalorian’s Season 2 finale, it took Disney+ almost three years to get the series back on air. Still, as excited as we all were to meet back some of our favorite Star Wars characters, The Mandalorian’s Season 3 premiere can be profoundly disappointing for all of us who were hoping for the series to get back to the small-scope structure that made the first season of the show so refreshing in the first place. Instead, the latest episode of The Mandalorian embraces Disney’s new direction for Star Wars, which often puts fan service and foreshadowing ahead of good storytelling.

RELATED: 'The Mandalorian': Director Rick Famuyiwa Talks Season 3's Scope & Says It's the End of a Chapter

What Made ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 1 So Successful?

Image via Disney+, Lucasfilm

The Mandalorian was conceived at a particular moment in Star Wars history. After Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, the House of the Mouse was eager to profit from the company’s most beloved franchise, which led to an ambitious plan for a sprawling cinematic universe. Unfortunately, even though 2015’s The Force Awakens was a huge box office success, 2017’s The Last Jedi split the fan base into two very vocal poles, seemingly dooming the sequel trilogy of the Skywalker Saga.

In addition, on the spinoff front, 2016’s Rogue One success couldn’t be reproduced in 2018’s Solo, which led Disney back to the drawing board while the company devised a new strategy to push the Star Wars franchise forward. Meanwhile, Disney was preparing the launching its streaming service, Disney+, in 2019. So, the company had to offer some new Star Wars content to ensure fans that all their favorite franchises would find a home on the streamer. The solution was to produce the first big live-action show set in the Star Wars universe, The Mandalorian.

Since The Mandalorian was developed while Disney tried to wrap their corporate head around what makes Star Wars the biggest pop franchise ever, the show was graced with a surprising amount of creative freedom. When putting things in perspective, it feels like Disney might have been afraid to add another product to the Skywalker Saga, so they decided to move forward with a Disney+ project that could work independently of other movies and TV shows. That strategy ensured that if The Mandalorian failed, it wouldn’t hurt the bigger franchise, which was already compromised. At the same time, offering fans a decoupled adventure helped bring new viewers on board. Besides that, the disgruntled part of the Star Wars fan base could enjoy The Mandalorian without worrying about the latest theatrical releases.

While Disney was obviously playing safe with The Mandalorian, the series was so successful due to its independence. The first season of The Mandalorian is television at its prime, with each episode having its own story, filled with quirky characters and high stakes. And while there was a central storyline to stitch things together, the adventure-of-week format did wonders for The Mandalorian because it proved how vast and exciting the galaxy far, far away can be. Each episode of the first season of The Mandalorian explores a new corner of the Star Wars universe, unconcerned about the Skywalker family affairs and the epic scope of the theatrical releases. By staying small and focused, The Mandalorian became the most well-received Star Wars production in decades. Sadly, it seems that the series has become a victim of its success.

‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3 Premiere Can’t Compete with Season 1

Din Djarin with other mandalorians in the Season 3 trailer
Image via Disney+

After the first season of The Mandalorian proved extremely profitable for Disney’s new streaming business, the company decided that the future of Star Wars lied on TV. As a result, Lucasfilm was immediately ordered to plan multiple live-action series, using characters already popular in animation or the Legends line of novels, comic books, and video games.

While Season 2 of The Mandalorian was released in 2020, before most Star Wars series began to be mass-produced, it was evident something had changed in the series. The scope of Season 2 of The Mandalorian grew as the series overreached to fan-favorite characters and nodded to obscure Legends events, all while spending whole episodes with storyline detours created to kickstart spinoffs such as The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka. Even Mark Hamill himself returned as Luke Skywalker for Season 2’s finale.

While the second season of The Mandalorian is still highly entertaining, it feels like two different TV shows are competing for the same runtime. We still have the small-scope futuristic Western we loved so much in 2019, but Season 2 is simultaneously a franchise chapter that must constantly connect to the bigger cinematic universe. Things got much worse with The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi, as our faith in the Star Wars future faltered. And while Andor might have reignited our love for the franchise, the third season of The Mandalorian became our most anticipated thermometer to measure if we can still trust Star Wars to deliver engaging stories that don’t get lost with fan service.

Din Djarin with Grogu in The Mandalorian Season 3 trailer
Image via Disney+

As much as it pains us to admit, Season 3, Episode 1 is not a good start. Season 3, Episode 1 begins with a thrilling scene that mixes a Mandalorian brawl against a gigantic creature with glimpses of the fascinating rites of the tribe. Since Season 3 is about Din searching for a way to reconnect with his faith and find redemption, the set piece is the perfect starting point. However, it doesn’t take long for the episode to become a bloated mess of references and setups. While Season 1 of The Mandalorian gave purpose to each chapter of its story, Season 3’s premiere is shooting in every direction, missing the mark more than a Stormtrooper who lost his glasses.

In the first episode, we have an extended visit to Nevarro that explains the Republic's shortcomings and the fate of Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito), but doesn’t actually help Din in his mission. Then, there’s the introduction of a quest to revive IG-11 (voiced by Taika Waititi) that defies common sense and nullifies the character's emotional self-sacrifice at the end of Season 1. Episode 1 also brings Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) back for no reason besides underlining how the fan-favorite character is still around. Finally, there’s the introduction of Pirates as a new and dangerous enemy, whose conflict with Din seems half-baked, to say the least.

Instead of a clear theme and goal, the first episode of Season 3 of The Mandalorian is about setting things up for future storylines and spinoffs. And while Din has a clear purpose, the first episode just flies around the plot aimlessly to increase the story's scope. There’s still time to salvage Season 3 of The Mandalorian, and if the remaining episodes focus on Din’s redemption, we might be reminded of what made us fall in love with the series in 2019. Even so, if Season 3’s premiere is of any indication, it looks like The Mandalorian lost sight of what made it great in the first place.

New episodes of The Mandalorian come to Disney+ every Wednesday.

Read More About 'The Mandalorian'