During the New Republic Era, specifically in the year 9 ABY, a daring rescue operation was launched to save Grogu from Moff Gideon's light cruiser. The team consisted of a group of Mandalorians, a New Republic marshal, a mercenary, and a former bounty hunter. They successfully infiltrated the cruiser by piloting their commandeered shuttle through the launch tube and executing a crash landing.
Following a confrontation with Imperial remnant stormtroopers, the rescue team managed to secure control of the light cruiser's bridge. Subsequently, Djarin returned, having rescued Grogu from his confinement, and presented Gideon in stuncuffs. Furthermore, Djarin was now in possession of the Darksaber, which effectively designated him as the ruler of Mandalore.
However, the Dark Trooper platoon, which Djarin believed he had neutralized, unexpectedly returned to Gideon's cruiser and boarded it, eventually advancing towards the bridge. To delay their advance, the team sealed the blast doors, but the droids began to relentlessly attack the doors. At that moment, a mysterious robed figure wielding a green-bladed lightsaber boarded the ship and effortlessly cut through the droids, destroying them. The Jedi Master then revealed himself as Luke Skywalker, invited Grogu to join him, and conveyed to Djarin that the child was seeking his consent. With Djarin's blessing, Skywalker departed from the cruiser with Grogu.
Driven by their experiments involving M-count blood transfusions, Moff Gideon led a remnant of the fallen Galactic Empire in a relentless hunt to acquire Grogu. Grogu was an enigmatic alien child of the same species as Yoda, possessing extraordinary powers. However, Din Djarin, a Mandalorian bounty hunter, defied the Bounty Hunters' Guild and went rogue to rescue and safeguard the child, whom he raised as a foundling of his clan.
Djarin was tasked with reuniting Grogu with his own kind, identified by a Mandalorian armorer as the Jedi. With the assistance of fellow Mandalorian Bo-Katan Kryze, Djarin eventually located former Jedi Ahsoka Tano. Tano declined to train Grogu but directed Djarin to an ancient temple on Tython, where Grogu could use the Force to potentially be sensed by another Jedi. However, Gideon's forces discovered them there and captured Grogu, returning him to Gideon's light cruiser before jumping into hyperspace to an unknown location. Boba Fett and Fennec Shand joined Djarin's quest to rescue Grogu, considering themselves indebted to him for allowing Fett to reclaim his armor. After raiding a remnants base on Morak with the help of Djarin's friend Cara Dune, a New Republic marshal, and ex-Imperial sharpshooter Migs Mayfeld, Djarin and his allies obtained the coordinates to Gideon's light cruiser.
Djarin, Dune, Fett, and Shand seized Gideon's Shuttle 2743, which was transporting Doctor Penn Pershing, a clone engineer overseeing the experiments, and eliminated one of the two pilots. They then journeyed to a desert world where they recruited Mandalorian warriors Bo-Katan Kryze and Koska Reeves. Kryze sought to reclaim the Darksaber from Moff Gideon, who had acquired the weapon after the Great Purge of Mandalore, to reclaim the Mandalorian throne and unite the Mandalorians to retake their homeworld of Mandalore.
Upon arriving near Moff Gideon's light cruiser via hyperspace, Boba Fett, aboard the Slave I, simulated an attack on the shuttle carrying the rest of the team. This maneuver diverted three TIE/ln space superiority starfighters that were launched from Gideon's cruiser, allowing the shuttle to execute a crash landing through the launch tube and enabling the team to board the cruiser. Fett destroyed the starfighters before jumping to hyperspace.
Inside the cruiser, Dune, Shand, Kryze, and Reeves fought their way to the bridge, battling stormtroopers along the way, while Djarin stealthily made his way to Grogu's cell. En route, Djarin discovered the cargo bay containing the platoon of third-generation dark troopers; however, the combat droids were already activated. Using Pershing's code cylinder, Djarin sealed the doors, but one of the droids escaped and engaged Djarin. He ultimately destroyed it with his beskar spear and opened the room's sealed doors, expelling the remaining platoon into space.
While the rest of the team captured the bridge, Djarin defeated the troopers guarding Grogu's cell. Inside, he found Gideon wielding the Darksaber above Grogu. Gideon forced Djarin to surrender his blaster pistol and tricked him into a false deal: in exchange for the child, Djarin agreed to leave Gideon and never cross paths again. When Djarin approached, Gideon attacked him with the Darksaber. In the hallway outside the cell, Djarin drew his beskar spear and briefly dueled Gideon, ultimately defeating him.
Djarin freed Grogu, claimed the Darksaber, and delivered a captured Gideon to the bridge before Kryze and the rest of the team. Gideon pointed out that Kryze could not take the Darksaber, and thus claim the Mandalorian throne, because she had not defeated him in combat; Djarin had. The dark trooper droid platoon used their rocket boosters to fly back to Gideon's cruiser and boarded it, eventually reaching the bridge. The team sealed the blast doors to delay them, but the droids began to pound on the doors in an attempt to break through. However, before the droids could breach the doors, a T-65B X-wing starfighter arrived from hyperspace and docked inside the cruiser.
From the bridge, the team and Moff Gideon watched the security cameras as a mysterious robed figure wielding a green-bladed lightsaber cut through the droids. Kryze identified the figure as a Jedi. The Jedi ascended in an elevator to the hallway before the bridge and destroyed the remaining dark troopers. Gideon grabbed a nearby blaster pistol that he had been hiding and repeatedly shot Kryze. However, before he could fire on Grogu, Djarin leaped in front of the child, shielding him with his beskar armor. Gideon then tried to kill himself with the blaster, but Dune knocked him unconscious before he could.
With the remaining dark troopers eliminated, Din Djarin opened the blast doors as the Jedi entered through the smoke, deactivated his lightsaber, and removed his hood, revealing himself to be Luke Skywalker. Djarin asked if he was a Jedi, and Skywalker confirmed that he was. Skywalker invited Grogu to join him and informed Djarin that the child was seeking his permission. Djarin gave the child his blessing and bid him farewell, removing his helmet to say goodbye. Skywalker, accompanied by his astromech droid, R2-D2, then departed from the cruiser with Grogu.
Boba Fett, having fulfilled his debt to Djarin, left the rescue early and traveled with Fennec Shand to Jabba's Palace on Tatooine, which was then controlled by Bib Fortuna. They attacked the palace and Fett killed Fortuna and took the throne. Fett then established his own criminal empire from the remnants of Jabba Desilijic Tiure's former empire and became the Daimyo, aiming to rule with respect rather than the fear that had characterized Jabba's reign.
The rescue was featured in "Chapter 16: The Rescue" of The Mandalorian, a Disney+ television series created by Jon Favreau in 2019. The episode was written by Favreau, directed by Peyton Reed, and released on December 18, 2020.