Rescued by a Mandalorian warrior and raised as a foundling, Din Djarin grew up to live among other strict survivors following the Way of the Mandalore in a hidden covert on Nevarro. Djarin worked as a bounty hunter to earn credits, a mysterious masked mercenary who never removed his beskar helmet. But a high-paying job from Greef Karga at the Bounty Hunters Guild changed all that. In exchange for a camtono case of beskar ingots, the Mandalorian retrieved a young Force-sensitive alien for a man called the Client, part of the Imperial remnant. However, recognizing that the child was in danger, Djarin chose to risk everything to save the youngling, forcing them both to flee into the Outer Rim as fugitives.

Djarin and the child dodged bounty hunters in their Razor Crest before returning to Nevarro to settle a debt with Karga, who promised a clean record in exchange for ridding the planet of its Imperial presence. In the course of the battle with Moff Gideon, who had come into ownership of the legendary Darksaber, the Mandalorian's hidden covert was annihilated, leaving the Armorer and Paz Vizsla among the few survivors. Due to his dedication to the foundling, the Armorer gave Din the signet of the Mudhorn and declared he and the child as a clan of two, questing him to return to youngster to his people: the Jedi.

Djarin and the child roamed the galaxy in search of other Mandalorians and the Force-users who had survived Order 66 at the dawn of the Empire. They met other Mandalorians including Boba Fett, once a bounty hunter working for Darth Vader, and Bo-Katan Kryze, the heir to the throne of Mandalore, who led them to Ahsoka Tano, a former Jedi investigating links to Grand Admiral Thrawn on Corvus. Ahsoka was able to reach the youngling through the Force and learn his name: Grogu. But she refused to teach him.

After Grogu was kidnapped by Gideon's Dark Troopers, snatched from the seeing stone on Tython in an attack that destroyed the Mandalorian's ship, Djarin and several others teamed up to mount a rescue. Although Din was successful at besting Gideon in battle during the incursion, winning the Darksaber thanks to a beskar spear gifted by Tano, the Dark Troopers were undeterred. Luckily, the legendary Luke Skywalker had heard Grogu through the Force, and the Jedi arrived in time to help Djarin and his friends win the day before taking Grogu as his student. To say goodbye, Djarin removed his helmet and let Grogu see his true face for the first time.

Din returned to his old ways, tracking down bounties for pay and reunited with the Armorer and his old covert. But upon admitting he had removed his helmet, he was banished. Djarin returned to Tatooine where Peli Motto had restored a new ship for the Mandalorian, a pre-Empire N-1 starfighter. After the Mandalorian delivered a gift — a fine chainmail shirt made of beskar — to the temple, Skywalker gave Grogu a choice: train as a Jedi or return to Djarin's side. Grogu chose the Mandalorian, and together, Din and Grogu helped Boba Fett to defend his throne as Daimyo of Tatooine before returning to the stars.