(The Mandalorian+BoBF) The Way of Mandalore | A Legends Movie Saga (Final Update in Progress: 5/6 Done) — Page 23

Thanks for the reviews, everyone! Getting through a stomach flu this last week, so haven’t been super active in editing. Mostly just moving segments around and creating a few individual scenes to be slotted in down the road. I have so much footage to work through and conceptualizing to do, that I’ve started using a movie script beat writing template to get it all in place on paper before trying to get it in video form. I’m looking at a lot of options here, so give me a few more days to recover and brainstorm and I’ll get some updates out for you!

Ace! Share your ideas here my dude!

Just another quick update, I have ~70 minutes of a rough draft for Book 6 so far. I’m working some things around for Books 5-7, so expect another update on that film too. Sorry…! But I do finally have a solid vision of how I want to complete this saga, so I’m going to finish organizing some scenes through the rest of this week and make sure Book 6 can stick its landing. It’s going to take me a while longer to release the film as I’m trying out some VFX for the Grogu reunion placement and want to make sure I get that right. I’m cooking, people! Give me a few more days and I’ll present the Book 5-7 outlines. I have the 3 movies scripted out pretty well now and I like a lot of what I’m seeing. I think more of my original vision is coming through and working this time. I have a better AI model made for Din’s voice too which is helping supplement a couple of lines. Will share more in a few days!

Oooh, very curious about the changes coming to movie 5!

Edit: Doublepost.

Patali said:

Please send me updated links!

Sent!

EddieDean said:

Oooh, very curious about the changes coming to movie 5!

Made a ton of progress on everything over the past 24 hours. Still planning to post outlines by the weekend, but I now have my re-updated Book 5 (I promise, this is the last time aside from any bug fixes) in the beta stage and Book 6 fully organized into a ~2 hour film and in the Alpha stage. The complexity of all this also requires me to get the right scenes for Book 7 laid out too, so I have worked in there and am getting close to the right runtime (but the scenes are not entirely organized and still quite out of order) so I’ll say that’s in pre-alpha.

To give a brief summary, I am looking at going back to the base structure of Book 5 being like the 2023 “Groguless mines” release, but don’t worry! Boba will still get his dues, I’m not doing the “cut BoBF and make it a 6-movie saga” idea I had tossed around previously. I am confident that I have a solid plan in place to pace out Boba’s rule through Books 6 AND 7, plus the Dr. Pershing story fully integrated.

I have Grogu’s reunion in a good place at the end of Book 6, using a combination of Dazman’s initial vfx efforts (thank you so much for being willing to share your behind the scenes files, huge credit to you for all the groundwork you laid here) plus some new scene restructuring and my own personal touches. This reunion will happen on Ossus at Luke’s academy, as I have successfully split up Din’s visits into 2 entirely unique scenes. Can’t wait to share more! The passion is definitely back and I’m having a lot of fun staying up into the wee hours of the morning working on this.

Though… I am also really excited to work on the Bad Batch one day. After that, we shall see. I do want to tackle The Boys at some point… Big fan of that series and I think it’s begging for an acbagel movie saga too, but I’ll wait for the new season to conclude this summer.

Well, I trust your judgment, this could be a really great telling of the story! It gives you an opportunity to shift the scene of Boba taking the throne too, to make it a proper tag.

stevepaynter said:

Ohh, would definitely be interested in “The Boys” - Acbagel movie saga.

I’ll wait and see if Season 4 holds up, but it’s a project that intrigues me. I was going to do The Witcher… but I seriously think it’s unfixable. I’ll wait 15 years for the HBO reboot…

No pressure, but do you envision Books 6 & 7 being completed by Easter (29th of March). I was hoping to do a binge water over the Easter Break with my fam.

Hmm, I can definitely say the new Book 5 will be ready, but the nature of 6 & 7 requires them both to be pretty fleshed out before either will be released. I haven’t gotten into the nitty gritty of bringing book 6 to release quality, and haven’t even started individual scene edits on 7. I can’t make any promises on if they’ll be ready by then, sorry!

TheDimitrios said:

This does sound amazing!

Thanks, super excited to share. I almost have Book 5 ready for my final review watch. Have new titles for the last 3 films now as well.

Book 5: The Apostate
Book 6: The Foundling
Book 7: The Return

EddieDean said:

Well, I trust your judgment, this could be a really great telling of the story! It gives you an opportunity to shift the scene of Boba taking the throne too, to make it a proper tag.

Maybe! Think it needs more fleshed out than just the dream snippets? There will be a little bit more setup of Boba already in the crime lord role this time around. As far as cuts/adds go for his scenes, I’ll be adding both of his Hutt confrontations and cutting the mod & krasanantantnt recruitments. He will already be more established by the time book 6 rolls around, so the whole plot of him trying to build from scraps is altered to him dealing with challenges to his already established authority.

Darth Sadifous said:

Acbagel, I am excited to see what you are cooking up. I love this series and your passion! I expect the final product to be nothing short of spectacular.

Definitely my most creative work yet! Goes a bit back to my earlier books in terms of over structure, this book 6 reminds me a bit of Book 2/3.

Interested to see how the removal of the mod & krrsantan recruitments goes. I did not have an issue with them in your last edit. It was just how the water monger’s complaint lead to the recruitment of the wookie that seemed a bit of a logical leap. Also, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the Hutt Twins intro in the show as it lead ultimately to a nothing burger in the original serries, so I will be interested to see how their intergration in this edit has meaning.

I just think the recruitment scenes are a bit unnecessary when you aren’t showing Boba’s rise and how he’s trying to build from scraps. We jump into his storyline ~6-8 months after we last saw him, so he’s already got a decent power structure. And the mods play such a small overall part with only a couple lines anyway, I think it easily presents as that they’re just his bodyguards. Same with krrsantan, he’s more of an easter egg character that’s working for Boba in the background.

The Hutts will be the cause that delays Boba from helping on Mandalore in full force. All I’ll say is that the underworld and the imperial remnant will be in cahoots.

Hey, folks! I’ve still been working on this a ton and want to share some updates and receive feedback on a few things. (Scene demos at the bottom of the post if you don’t care to read a lot)

I have a good working cut of Book 5 that I need to do a watch-through review of now so that one is getting close to being ready. Most of my time has been spent on the next film, which has been quite enlightening as it’s my first time really deep-diving into this part of Season 3. In fact, it is my first time rewatching it since its release. As I attempted to fully flesh out Books 6 and 7, I’ve primarily discovered that the narrative of the final two episodes of Season 3 is extremely light on an impactful plot. In fact, these episodes are 80+% mindless action, and much of it is poorly choreographed/edited (“ARRGHHH MY CLONES!”, random break in plant cave “life just finds a way”, and the overall confusion of the layout of the base and order of events occurring). The Mandalore battle needs some drastic TLC to even function as an Act 3. In addition to this, there are almost no character moments for Din or Grogu leading up to the battle. Let’s think through the content I have access to after I already used the Mines, Pirates, and BoBF. I have:

1. Raptor takes Vizla kid (this seems very silly to spend time on before heading to Mandalore after we just experienced the weight of events regarding Grogu’s return and Bo-Katan getting the darksaber. This episode doesn’t work to serve as a backbone of an Act of a movie as it’s WAY too short in and of itself at only 18 minutes from capture to rescue. And especially in Book 7 to conclude this whole adventure… Imagine going to the theaters after waiting years following an awesome ending to the previous film, only to spend the whole first Act chasing a bird and running out of jetpack fuel. I have used a few minutes of this episode for a new scene, but it’s not an actual story that can carry an Act, it’s just a scene.)
2. Plazir-15 (Again, mostly a nonsensical sidequest and I struggle to show Lizzo/Jack Black here as they’re so incredibly the wrong tone for the “epic” I have tried to tell, nothing against them personally, but this is especially not something to do in a movie. It was a social media traffic engagement decision for weekly TV. However, I have indeed repurposed a ton of this episode for a decent Din/Bo-katan adventure leading up to Bo getting the darksaber, but this has to happen in Book 6. And it looks nothing like the D+ version as it primarily surrounds a mysterious imperial sympathizer and Boba Fett… More on that below)
3. Dr. Pershing content (I will be using some of this, but he will literally outshine Din and Grogu if I include it all as he has more scenes than them. I want to utilize some of this to lead up to Gideon’s return, but I can’t make Pershing a main character that gets more screen time than Din in this last film…)
4. The assault on Mandalore (Again, this is extremely light on story, and there is not a build-up to it before they launch. They have a 60-second dinner as Bo-katan rallies the troops, then they fly to Mandalore. There is a little bit of a character moment on the “hoverboat”, but it’s just a couple of minutes, and I promise you that having the assault on Mandalore start so fast in this movie feels awful)

If I combine all of Dr. Pershing, all of my unused BoBF scenes focusing on Boba, and the whole assault on Mandalore, I can indeed make a 2-hour movie. But Din and Grogu are only the focus of like 10-20% of it, and most of that is them fighting. They barely get any dialogue or development and it feels really terrible and jarring to watch. Look at how I’ve built TWoM up until now:

Book 1. ~50% of Season 1

Book 2. ~30% of Season 1 + ~30% of BoBF

Book 3. ~50% of Season 2

Book 4. ~50% of Season 2

Book 5. ~30% of Season 3 + 30% of BoBF

So for Books 6 & 7, that leaves me with:

~70% of Season 3 (but realize the majority of content of that 70% is Dr. Pershing, Raptor kid, and Plazir) and ~30% of BoBF (but realize the majority of that content is stuff I decided NOT to use anyway for Boba as it isn’t very strong). All of that to say… I’m having huge problems making a Book 7 that actually focuses on Din and Grogu. There just seriously isn’t the normal Din-Grogu content there that I’m used to, because for some reason Grogu goes away for all of Plazir-15, for some reason Grogu goes away for all of Raptor kid rescue, and for some reason Din and Grogu are not the focus of the assault on Mandalore and are mostly side characters in a larger narrative.

The only solution I’ve found is a longer 4-Act structured movie in Book 6 to conclude this saga, akin to Endgame. I think the Assault on Mandalore does work fine as a final battle after a bunch of character development for Din, Boba, Bo-katan, AND Grogu, but it doesn’t carry anywhere else.

If you’re still around, check out my proposed structure here:

Book 5 - The Apostate
Act 1: Set-up
EXT. RINGWORLD - from BoBF E05 - Din Djarin collects a bounty in exchange for information on the covert’s location, and uses the Darksaber but injures himself in the process
EXT. RINGWORLD - from BoBF E05 Din returns the bounty; Din finds the covert and Paz heals his wound; Din, Paz, and the Armorer discuss the Darksaber; the Armorer forges the beskar spear into chain mail; the Armorer lore dumps about Bo-Katan and the Purge; the Armorer and Din spar; Paz duels Din for the Darksaber; Din confesses and becomes an apostate; Din takes a commercial vessel to Nevarro
EXT. NEVARRO - from Mando S03 E01 - Din goes to Nevarro to get IG-11 repaired; Greef offers Din a place on Nevarro, but he declines since he has other things to attend to; Din and Greef run into pirates and fend them off; Din and Greef take IG-11 to the Anzellans, who say they can’t fix him; Din and Greef part ways for now in (added new scene from the end of S03 E08)
EXT. TATOOINE - From BoBF E05 - Din flies to Peli to get a new ship; Din and Peli repair and modify the N-1; Din tests the N-1 through Beggar’s Canyon; Din runs into Gorian Shard over Tatooine with (new AI line about being tracked), fights his snubfighters, and escapes, Din heads back to Pelli to get R5, then jets to Mandalore system after encountering X-wing patrol in orbit
EXT. KALEVALA - from Mando S03 E01 - Din travels to Kalevala to join Bo-Katan, learns she has been abandoned by her people, and tells her he will go to Mandalore
Act 2: Confrontation -
EXT. MANDALORE - from Mando S03 E02 - Din enters the Mandalore system, breaches the atmosphere, and lands; Din deploys R5 to take atmosphere readings; R5 disappears on the scope and Din leaves the ship to find him; Din gets attacked by Alamites, fends them off, and finds R5; back at the ship R5’s data reveals the air is breathable
EXT. MANDALORE - from Mando S03 E02 - Din goes to explore the Civic Center ruins in search of the mines; Din gets trapped by the cyborg crab thing and taken to its lair; Din sends a distress signal to R5 to get Bo-Katan; The N-1 arrives at Kalevala, Bo-Katan notices the empty cockpit and tells her droid to download R5’s data to figure out what happened; Bo-Katan ventures into the ruins to find Din; the cyborg puts Din in his cage on a holder and starts to drain his blood; Bo-Katan encounters Alamites on her way down; Bo-Katan finds Din and kills his captor using the Darksaber the cyborg took from him; from Mando S03 E05 - Pirate King Gorian Shard arrives above Nevarro and begins to assault the town, Greef Karga and his townspeople flee, Din wakes up as Bo-Katan prepares a soup for him, Din and Bo-Katan set off for the Living Waters; Din bathes in the waters but falls under the surface; Bo-Katan rescues him and sees the Mythosaur. from Mando S03 E05 - Carson receives distress call from Greef at Adelphi base and leaves for Coruscant;
EXT. MANDALORE-KALEVALA - from Mando S03 E03 - Din wakes up redeemed, Bo-Katan asks him if he saw anything alive, he says he didn’t; Din and Bo-Katan leave Mandalore and are ambushed by TIE Interceptors; Bo-Katan flies to Kalevala, Din drops to pilot the N-1 for backup; Bo-Katan evades the Interceptors through the canyons; Din and Bo-Katan eliminate the Interceptors; TIE Bombers destroy Bo-Katan’s castle; a bunch more TIEs come into play and Din and Bo-Katan escape, Carson arrives at Coruscant and asks for permission to help Nevarro, encounters Elia, and leaves unsuccessfully;
Act 3: Resolution -
EXT. ROCK WORLD - from Mando S03 E03 - Bo-Katan lands next to Din in her ship; Paz confronts Din, Din tells him he has been redeemed, Paz doesn’t believe him; Din brings vial of the Living Waters to the Armorer, who verifies it, Din is redeemed along with Bo-Katan, the Armorer takes Bo-Katan in to have her pauldron replaced; the Armorer makes a new pauldron with a signet of the Mythosaur, per Bo-Katan’s request; Carson finds the covert and requests them to help Nevarro since he can’t without abandoning his post; Din asks the covert to aid him in saving Nevarro, adding that they could relocate there before they retake Mandalore, Paz then speaks and gives his support, and rallies the rest to the cause;
EXT. NEVARRO - The covert sets off for Nevarro; the N-1 arrives, followed by Bo-Katan’s ship; the covert fights the pirates and successfully gets rid of them; Bo-Katan is given a task to lead the effort to reunite the scattered clans so that Mandalore can be reclaimed
EXT. OSSUS - from BoBF E06 - Din goes to Ossus to give Grogu his chain mail (R5 is in the droid slot of the N-1); R2 leads Din to the construction site; Din waits and meets Ahsoka; Din and Ahsoka talk about Grogu, and he expresses his desire to give him the chain mail; Din gives Ahsoka the chain mail to give to Grogu and leaves
END (2 hours, 9 minutes)

Book 6 - The Return (Scene order & Act 4 not final/finished)
Act 1: Stasis -
EXT. OSSUS - from BoBF E06 - On Ossus, Grogu meditates with Luke and uses the Force on a frog, Luke disapproves; Luke lifts several frogs; Grogu fails to train properly and Luke teaches a lesson
EXT. ROCK WORLD - from Mando S03 E01 - The Armorer forges Ragnar’s helmet and inducts him into the creed( saying his full name out loud and speaking Mando’a), The Armorer summons Din and they discuss reuniting the clans to reclaim Mandalore, Din voices distaste for having the darksaber but the Armorer wants to stay to tradition, Din states that he wishes to travel to Tatooine to see if Boba Fett is interested in joining them, Drom Mando S03 E04 - Din discusses this with Bo-Katan who expresses hesitancy to work with a Crime Lord
EXT. TATOOINE - From BoBF “present day” Boba scenes - Boba experiences intense dreams due to the weight and stress of being Daimyo, he travels into Mos Espa to look for the absent Mayor, only to discover an impending Pyke invasion of his territory, he prepares for war
EXT. OSSUS - from BoBF E06 - Grogu continues to train with Luke and starts to improve and see success in his efforts
EXT. TATOOINE - From BoBF “present day” Boba scenes - Boba is briefed about the gang and family movements in his territory and meets with the other family leaders to broker a truce, Fennec suggests recruiting more troops as Cobb Vance fends off the Pykes spice trade
Act 2: Thesis -
EXT. TATOOINE - from BoBF E05 - Din arrives at Peli’s spot to look for Boba Fett, but Fennec is already there; Din tells Fennec he was just looking for her, asking if he can talk with Boba, she counters saying they could use his help, mentions that he initially came to see if Boba would like to join the rest of the Mandalorians to retake Mandalore, Fennec assures Din that Boba will consider this, from BoBF E06 - Din lands at Boba’s palace; Fennec holds a strategy meeting with Boba and his allies regarding the Pyke Syndicate, where Din offers to help find footsoldiers; Din goes to Freetown to talk with Cobb Vanth about aiding Boba , which Cobb says he’ll consider; Cobb tells the Weequay to gather the fight-eligible townspeople; Cad Bane approaches Cobb at Freetown, threatens him, and shoots him; Cad reports the the missing Mayor who is revealed to be a traitor
EXT. TATOOINE - from BoBF E07 - Boba and Fennec setup a lookout in old ruins; Din enters and reports on him getting Cobb to gather soldiers, as the Mods convince Boba to wage the war on the Syndicate from the ruins; Din, Boba, and Fennec wait for Freetown’s reinforcements in the cantina, and discusses strategy as the Mods patrol and the rest of Boba’s team is stationed across Mos Espa; Boba is requested outside the ruins by Cad; Cad reveals he’s eliminated Cobb, and Boba and Cad reveal their backshooters; Fennec warns Boba to back off; Boba and Cad back off; The Mods call in to warn Boba that the families of Mos Espa laid a trap; the families attack Boba’s team; Boba sends Fennec to Mos Eisely to eliminate the head of the Syndicate; the Pykes surround the cantina; Mando tells Boba he intends to stick with him
EXT. TATOOINE - from BoBF E07 - Din and Boba fight the Pykes but become overpowered; the people of Freetown rescue Din and Boba; the Mods arrive and join the fight; Krrsantan arrives to join the fight but gets injured; the Pykes fall back, Din spots two Scorpenek droids; the people fire on the droids, their shields are too strong; the people flee as Din and Boba take the droids on; Boba goes to get reinforcements as Din continues to distract the droids; Din continues to lead one droid away, runs into Peli, the droid keeps coming so they flee; Boba returns, riding his Rancor to provide aid; Boba weakens one of the droid’s shields, which Din takes advantage of, chopping at the droid with the Darksaber; and Boba on the Rancor finishes the job; the other droid continues to attack the others, but the Rancor arrives and destroys the other droid; Din arrives and fends off the rest of the Pykes with the people and the Rancor; Cad shows up and gets rid of Boba’s Rancor, which runs off; Boba and Cad fight, and Boba kills Cad; Fennec eliminates the families and the Pykes; Boba and Fennec take in their town as it rebuilds, and as they talk about the bacta tank Cobb is seen with a Mod preparing over him; Din flies away and discusses with Boba over comms about joining Mandalore, Boba explains that he will lend a hand a soon as he deals with the Hutts who have already begun closing in on his territory next
Act 3: Antithesis -
EXT. CORUSCANT - from Mando S03 E03 - Dr. Pershing, now part of the Amnesty program, gives a talk on Coruscant, and is overwhelmed by the public outside the opera house, Pershing arrives at his Amnesty Housing and listens to a news report about Gideon’s war tribunal as he receives a mysterious Imperial gift
EXT. ROCK WORLD - from Mando S03 E04 - Bo-Katan leads a hunting party to kill a monster as she proves herself to be the leader that people expect her to be; they climb the mountain on ropes; they reach the summit, Paz is attacked by the raptor and the Mandalorians pursue as the raptor takes off; the Mandalorians subdue the raptor and it plummets and is eaten by the sea crocodile nearby the training grounds, the new monster charges the training grounds, from Mando S03 E01 - Din arrives back from Tatooine just in time to blast the monster to bits.
EXT. OSSUS - from BoBF E06 - Luke helps Grogu remember his past; from Mando S03 E04 - in his memories, Grogu is rescued from the 501st storming the Jedi Temple by Kelleran Beq; from BoBF E06 - Grogu wakes up, and Luke consoles him saying that the Galaxy is a dangerous place
EXT. CORUSCANT - from Mando S03 E03 - Pershing joins fellow Amnesty members in the courtyard for a drink, and sees Elia again; the officers drink together, Pershing struggles with the monotony and restrictions of life in the New Republic and tells Elia that it’s time to take action
EXT. ROCK WORLD - from Mando s03 E04 - Din reports to the Armorer about his mission with Boba, Bo-katan interrupts to say that she has tracked down the Night Owl Clan and briefs the others on the situation inside her ship, the Armorer tasks Bo and Din to gather the Night Owls for Mandalore
EXT. PLAZIR-15 - from Mando S03 E06 - Din and Bo-Katan arrive at Plazir 15 with the goal of uniting with the Night Owl clan before taking Mandalore; Din and Bo-Katan board the transport to meet with Axe Woves, but their ship is mysteriously hijacked and redirected to a landing pad, the attempt to reach Axe Wobes through the tram system, but are once again redirected to an an underground facility, Din communicates with the Ugnaughts to get the information they need about their mysterious hacker and the Ugnaughts give him information about a nearby warehouse; Bo-Katan asks Din about how he knew how to communicate with Ugnaughts, Din and Bo-Katan go to the loading docks to investigate, and find a battle droid parroting imperial orders and regulations; Din attacks the droids to provoke them to revealing more, a B2 droid runs away as Din takes it down, Bo-Katan finds the spark pad leading to The Resistor, Din and Bo-Katan investigate The Resistor, and learn about “The Machinist”, an imperial sympathizer who is reprogramming the planet’s droids to serve the imperial remnant
EXT. CORUSCANT - Pershing prepares for something serious and lays out his uniform as he psychs himself up; Elia and Pershing go to the train station, and sneak onto a train; Elia and Pershing arrive at next station and walk to a junkyard and find a Star Destroyer; Elia and Pershing express mutual respect before Dr. Pershing willingly steps into a secret room with a mindflayer, he gladly sacrifices himself as it is revealed that he had hacked the New Republic systems to discover Gideon’s location, but had mental blockers in place from the NR rehabilitation program and needed the mindflayer to rip the location out
EXT. PLAZIR-15 - Din and Bo-Katan go to the droid morgue to investigate where The Machinist is operating from and discover that he is a former ISB officer, Axe Woves takes a bounty contract for Boba Fett and captures Prince Jun from the Quarrens
EXT. TATOOINE - From BoBF “present day” Boba scenes - Boba Fett is confronted by the Hutts as he is threatened for getting too involved in Mandalorian nonsense and should focus on his business as Daimyo
EXT. PLAZIR-15 - Din and Bo-katan confront the ISB officer and neutralize him, now free to reach Axe Woves, they travel to the landed Mandalorian fleet, Bo-katan and Woves fight, and Din convinces everyone to follow Bo-katan as their Mand’alor
EXT. CORUSCANT - In orbit, it is discovered by xwing pilot guy that Gideon has escaped, and Elia checks in with Gideon to report on what he missed
EXT. NEVARRO - The mandalorian fleet arrives on Nevarro, unified
EXT. OSSUS - Din and Grogu reunite
Act 4: Synthesis -
EXT. TATOOINE - Boba deals with stuff and gets delayed
EXT. MANDALORE - Attack it

Would love to hear thoughts on any of that from those who are crazy enough to make it this far!

Finally, I want to share a few scene previews I’ve been toying with. None of these are final by any means or are 100% going to be in the film, just wanted to show some stuff that I play around with.

If you read any of the drafts above regarding Pershing’s scenes, this is something new I’ve been working on here. I replaced the crappy “This is coruscant, it’s a big city” thing that Pershing was listening to and replaced it with a custom-created news segment. I also tried to reframe the gift he receives to show that someone nearby still believes in the empire as he does. Not sure if the music works, but it feels flat without it too… so let me know what you think of this idea. Pershing demo scene

Relied heavily on AI lines for this, but kind of wanted to see how far I could take it. Some sound much better than others, but again this is just a very first test. The Armorer’s lines in the beginning are also AI and I think they for sure sound really good. I wanted Ragnar to get a namedrop, and I’m also trying to incorporate some Mando’a into this film.Din-Armorer demo scene

Another experiment with totally recreating some droid voices from scratch. Part of my effort is to reframe the Plazir story. This one is in the roughest state audio-wise, but you’ll get the idea. Bar Droid demo scene

Well… That was a lot! Feel free to launch a discussion about any of this, would love to talk and hear some feedback.

It’s tricky. When I edited Clone Wars, there were times when I just had to include certain content, even though it was weaker. To my mind, since Season Three is weaker, I’d make that compromise, and have its movies just be the best I could make them. Your AI lines are excellent, and I think that gives you the best options here for improving season three’s movies. And I think your latest Book 5 is just so, so good. So for me, I’d stick with your book 5, and focus on doing what you can for Book 6/7 with the season three content.

You’re definitely drawn to your current approach - it’s where you ended up when you watched season three originally - so there must be merit to it. Instead of arguing my existing stance further, I’ll suggest a middle stance here instead, for your consideration:

• Book 5: Remains as it is right now. Mando and Boba focus, with Grogu absent.
• Book 6: A single movie from ALL of season three, trimmed, plus the remaining Grogu-Luke content. Perhaps you drop the vast majority of the sidequests from season three, including Gorian Shard’s pirates and perhaps even the rocky planet covert (using instead the movie 5 ringworld covert to set up the redemption). Have your Groguless redemption, almost directly into the hiring of Axe Woves and giving Bo Katan the darksaber, intercut with Grogu’s training and return to Mando, and then straight into reclaiming Mandalore since he’s just discovered it’s unpoisoned. That way, Mando’s arc is about redemption and reclaiming Mandalore all in one, and Grogu’s is about returning to Mando. Character focus amongst the large-scale conflict.