Mandalorian Season 3 Premiere Brings Us Back To A Major Planet From Clone Wars

The long-awaited premiere of "The Mandalorian" Season 3 is finally here, picking up after the jaw-dropping finale of "The Book of Boba Fett," which saw Mando (Pedro Pascal) reuniting with Grogu after the latter abandoned his Jedi training with Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). The two waste no time leaping right back into action, taking down an enormous alien monster that threatened to wipe out the Armorer (Emily Swallow) and her cult of fugitive Mandalorians.

Although Mando had previously been banished from the so-called "Children of the Watch" and labeled an apostate for removing his helmet, the Armorer tells him he can earn redemption by bathing in the waters beneath the Mines of Mandalore. This is a seemingly impossible task since Imperial forces decimated the planet and mines. Mando takes the news in stride and sets off to visit some old friends in preparation for this journey toward his shattered homeworld. One of those old friends happens to be Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff), who has retreated to an ancient Mandalorian castle after losing the Darksaber to Mando back in Season 2.

As interesting as it is to see a Mandalorian castle up close, perhaps even more exciting is the planet on which this fortress is located: Kalevala, a world that is extremely important to the beloved animated series "Star Wars: The Clone Wars."

Fans of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" will remember that Kalevala is a planet in the Mandalorian system that was the homeworld of House Kryze, which explains why this unnamed castle has passed into the possession of Bo-Katan Kryze. Both Bo-Katan and her sister Duchess Satine Kryze (voiced by Anna Graves), were born on Kalevala, the latter of whom rules Mandalore for most of the Clone Wars and forms a romantic connection with Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (voiced by James Arnold Taylor).

Despite being the homeworld of two extremely important Mandalorians from "The Clone Wars," we only ever hear mentions of Kalevala throughout the series — making this visit in "The Mandalorian" the very first time that "Star Wars" fans have actually seen the planet's surface. Mando's descent toward Bo-Katan's castle gives us a glimpse of lush green hills and a vast open ocean — both of which are in direct contrast to the overwhelming urbanization of Mandalore from "The Clone Wars." Considering just how important both Bo-Katan and Satine become in the later stages of "The Clone Wars" (which focuses almost exclusively on the Republic's siege of Mandalore), this visit to their homeworld is long overdue and serves as a welcome treat for any fans who wondered what Kalevala might have looked like.