Skip to main content

The return of Jar Jar Binks? 5 questions we have after The Mandalorian season 3 episode 4

In episode 4 of The Mandalorian season 3, titled The Foundling, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) lead a mission to save a kidnapped Mandalorian child, and Grogu flashes back to the night that changed his life forever. The latter sequence answers a question that Star Wars fans have been asking ever since Grogu was introduced at the end of The Mandalorian’s series premiere.

In other words, even though The Foundling only runs a little over 30 minutes long, the episode still manages to pack quite a lot into its fairly limited runtime. Now, heading into next week’s episode of The Mandalorian, here are five questions we have after The Foundling.

When will Grogu be able to speak?

Grogu wears a dart armband in The Mandalorian season 3 episode 4.
Lucasfilm

Early on in The Mandalorian’s latest episode, Pedro Pascal’s Din explains that Grogu does not have to wear a Mandalorian helmet like the rest of his fellow foundlings because he doesn’t yet have the ability to speak and, therefore, cannot recite the Mandalorian creed. Putting aside questions about how Grogu’s large ears will even allow him to wear a helmet at all, Din’s comment suggests that the moment when Grogu begins to speak will also be the moment when his Mandalorian transformation is complete.

That raises the question: How much longer will Din and Co. have to wait before Grogu actually starts talking? Unfortunately, given how little is known about Grogu’s mysterious race, that’s a question fans may have to wait a while to have answered.

Does Jar Jar Binks return? Well, sort of …

Kelleran Beq stands in an elevator doorway in The Mandalorian season 3 episode 4.
Lucasfilm

In The Foundling, The Mandalorian finally reveals how Grogu was able to survive the Order 66 massacre on Coruscant that resulted in the deaths of many of his fellow Jedi younglings. Specifically, it’s revealed that it was Jedi Master Kelleran Beq who saved Grogu’s life and personally escorted him off of Coruscant. Beq is, notably, played by Jar-Jar Binks actor Ahmed Best, and The Foundling isn’t the first time that Best’s Jedi Master has appeared in a piece of Star Wars content.

The character was actually introduced in 2020 when Best appeared as him on the Lucasfilm-produced children’s game show, Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge. While little is known about Beq’s life as well, Best has previously described the character as one of the rare Jedi who is devoted solely to the art of teaching others. Taking that into account, it makes a certain amount of sense that it was ultimately Beq who saved Grogu’s life during Order 66.

Did Kelleran Beq survive the Jedi Purge?

Kelleran Beq stands before a Naboo soldier in The Mandalorian season 3 episode 4.
Lucasfilm

The central flashback sequence in The Foundling comes to an end just after Grogu and Kelleran Beq successfully manage to lightspeed away from Coruscant in their ship. As a result, it’s still unclear how Grogu went from being in Kelleran Beq’s care to being at the Nikto mercenary hideout where Din Djarin found him in The Mandalorian’s first episode.

That also means we still don’t know whether Ahmed Best’s Kelleran Beq actually survived the 16-year purge that the Empire waged against the galaxy’s Jedi. The odds don’t seem high that he did, but if there’s one thing that the franchise’s Disney-run era has taught Star Wars fans, it’s that many more members of the Jedi Order actually survived Order 66 than they long believed.

Regardless of whether he’s still alive during the post-Empire era of The Mandalorian or not, though, it seems safe to say that Star Wars fans are already eager to learn more about the time that Grogu spent with Jedi Master Beq following their escape from Coruscant.

Do the Mandalorians really intend to train those baby raptors?

Mandalorian warriors lure out three baby raptors in The Mandalorian season 3 episode 4.
Lucasfilm

At the end of the fourth chapter of The Mandalorian season 3, Bo-Katan tells the Armorer that their Mandalorian tribe now has three new foundlings they have to take care of. Moments later, a pair of Mandalorian warriors lure out three wild baby raptors from Bo-Katan’s ship using pieces of raw meat. The creatures are, notably, the surviving children of the adult raptor that Bo-Katan, Din, and their fellow Mandalorian warriors teamed up to take down in the second half of The Foundling.

While the reveal of the three raptors brings Bo-Katan and Din’s mission to a lighthearted conclusion, it is worth asking: Does their Mandalorian tribe really intend on training the raptors to be like them? That seems like a tall order, frankly, and not just because making helmets for the raptors seems like a bit of a logistical nightmare. There is, of course, also a chance that the Mandalorians will try to find a new raptor to raise the orphaned children, but even that seems like something that’s easier said than done.

Either way, the strange scene raises several questions about how the Mandalorians actually take care of the foundlings they come across, especially those that are wilder and more beastlike than them.

What does Bo-Katan’s new sigil represent?

Bo-Katan wears a new piece of armor in The Mandalorian season 3 episode 4.
Lucasfilm

In the final scene of The Foundling, The Armorer crafts a replacement piece of armor for Bo-Katan, who requests that it bear a Mythosaur sigil rather than the same Nite Owl sigil as her other shoulder plate. The Armorer grants her request and tells her that the Mythosaur symbol belongs to every Mandalorian. While Bo-Katan tries to tell The Armorer that she’s actually seen a living, breathing Mythosaur on Mandalore as well, it’s unclear whether or not The Armorer believes her.

The Mandalorian’s newest episode subsequently ends with Bo-Katan not only staring contemplatively again at a replica Mythosaur skull but also taking yet another step away from her past by replacing one of her Nite Owl shoulder plates with an entirely new one. The moment suggests that Bo-Katan may, indeed, end up choosing to stay with Din Djarin and agree to become a full-time member of his Mandalorian tribe.

At least, it certainly seems like Bo-Katan is enjoying the sense of community that the Tribe provides more than she ever expected she would.

New episodes of The Mandalorian premiere Wednesdays on Disney+.

Editors' Recommendations

Alex Welch
Alex Welch is a TV and movies writer based out of Los Angeles. In addition to Digital Trends, his work has been published by…
5 questions we have after The Mandalorian season 3 episode 5
Bo-Katan stands with her helmet off in The Mandalorian season 3 episode 5.

The Mandalorian has returned this week with its third season’s most action-packed installment to date. The series’ latest episode, titled The Pirate, fulfills one of the promises of its season 3 premiere by bringing back Pirate King Gorian Shard (Nonso Anozie), who launches an all-out assault on Nevarro that he promises won’t cease until its High Magistrate leader, Greef Karga (Carl Weathers), surrenders. Greef, in response, tries to secure aid from the New Republic, but to no avail.

Fortunately, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff), and the rest of their Mandalorian covertly come to Nevarro’s rescue by wiping out Shard and almost his entire pirate crew.  The Pirate doesn’t kill off Shard without setting up another villain’s potential role in The Mandalorian season 3, though. The episode packs in a number of shocking moments and late-season developments between its numerous action beats.

Read more
5 questions we have after The Mandalorian season 3 episode 3
Bo-Katan sits near an R5 Astromech droid in The Mandalorian season 3 episode 3.

Coming off its game-changing second episode, The Mandalorian season 3 has returned this week with one of the Disney+ show’s strangest and most surprising installments to date. Picking up after the events of last week’s The Mines of Mandalore, episode 3 of The Mandalorian season 3 spends its runtime following not only Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) and Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), but also Dr. Pershing (Omid Abtahi) and Elia Kane (Katy M. O'Brian), two supporting figures from the show’s past seasons.

The episode, titled The Convert, splits its focus between those two storylines. As a result, The Mandalorian’s latest installment raises new questions about the future of Mandalore itself, as well as the fragile, quietly unnerving bureaucratic state of the galaxy’s New Republic.
Why didn’t Bo-Katan tell Din about the mythosaur?

Read more
Forget season 2: We can’t wait for season 3 and 4 of The Last of Us
Joel and Ellie look at something in The Last of Us.

This article contains spoilers for season 1 of The Last of Us.

HBO's The Last of Us recently concluded its terrific first season on Sunday night. The series has already been renewed for a second season, which will be developed from the video game The Last of Us Part II. However, showrunners Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and Neil Druckmann (Uncharted) revealed the second season would not cover the entirety of Part II and they need a third and potentially fourth season to complete the story.

Read more