The Mandalorian season 3 most likely won't start filming until 2022. The Mandalorian season 2 ended with a lot of potential setup for the next chapter in the popular streaming series. Grogu had left with Luke Skywalker, and Din Djarin had found himself in conflict with Bo Katan over the dark saber and who would become the rightful ruler of Mandalore. The season ended not with a tease of season 3 but a hint at The Book of Boba Fett.
Various Star Wars series are coming to Disney+ over the coming months. Currently, Star Wars: The Bad Batch is airing through the summer, while The Book of Boba Fett just recently wrapped filming for a December 2021 release date. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor are currently filming and set to premiere sometime in 2022. With so many Star Wars series in development, alongside the many MCU series coming to Disney+, it didn't seem like any major news had come out for The Mandalorian.
According to a report from Collider, production on The Mandalorian season 3 isn't set to begin until late 2021 or early 2022. The major reason for the delay is because the soundstage used to film The Mandalorian is currently being used by the production of Obi-Wan Kenobi. This means, most likely, the series won't return to the air until late 2022.
There could be a number of other factors for the delay. The Mandalorian star, Pedro Pascal, is currently set to star in The Last of Us for HBO, and the delay could be partially factoring in his schedule. Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are both working on The Book of Boba Fett, and the two of them may not have wanted to divide their attention between the two projects, instead choosing to dedicate their full attention to each series. The other factor is Rangers of the New Republic, one of the planned spin-off series, is no longer in active development due to star Gina Carano being let go by Lucasfilm, which could have resulted in plotlines from that series needing to be reworked.
With The Book of Boba Fett set to air in December 2021, and The Mandalorian season 3 currently rumored for late 2022, it continues a trend of Disney keeping Star Wars as a holiday season property. December has been a good date for the Star Wars projects under Disney, as four of the five films released during the month have gone on to gross over $1 billion at the worldwide box-office, and the trend will hopefully continue in December 2023 with Star Wars: Rogue Squadron. With families returning home for the holidays, they could gather around Disney+ to watch the newest season of The Mandalorian.
Source: Collider