The first trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu brought mixed reactions from franchise fans. Many wondered why a movie was necessary rather than a fourth season of the hit streaming series that inspired it. This suggests that Disney still doesn’t grasp what ideas and media work best for the Star Wars setting.
Premiering in 2019, The Mandalorian was the first television series set within the Star Wars universe. It quickly became a hit, running for three seasons through April 2023. Reportedly, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni had already completed work on scripting a fourth season when Lucasfilm reevaluated their plans for the franchise. Ultimately, Lucasfilm prioritized making a new Star Wars movie based on The Mandalorian instead of another season. That movie, titled The Mandalorian and Grogu, was first announced in January 2024 and finished filming in December 2024.
The story of The Mandalorian and Grogu finds the titular bounty hunter hired by the New Republic. He and his Force-sensitive son are dispatched to locate several warlords, who represent the last remnants of the fallen Galactic Empire. While this is a solid hook for a Mandalorian story, many felt it sounded more appropriate to a season-long Star Wars streaming series than a movie.
Star Wars works best as episodic stories
The first trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu reinforced this opinion. Visually, there was nothing in the trailer any more impressive than what had been seen in earlier seasons. This is not entirely unexpected, given how Lucasfilm has always been creative in terms of technology. New innovations like the StageCraft video wall gave The Mandalorian and other Star Wars shows a cinematic feel. Unfortunately, the trailer offers no indication the movie will offer anything new beyond a chance to see the heroes from the show in IMAX.
Disney and Lucasfilm had planned to release one new Star Wars movie a year starting in 2015. Those plans fell by the wayside due to the COVID-19 pandemic and behind-the-scenes issues with various productions. With The Mandalorian and Grogu and Star Wars: Starfighter scheduled for release in 2026 and 2027, respectively, it would seem Disney and Lucasfilm are trying to get back to that plan.
However, this plan ignores that Star Wars has always worked best in episodic formats. This dates back to the original trilogy, which famously started with Episode 4 of a larger saga. Afterward, the setting was largely defined through episodic media, particularly the novels and comics constituting the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Today, the most popular iterations of the Star Wars brand are the animated series and live-action shows.
There is little doubt that The Mandalorian and Grogu will be good. However, it seems unlikely that the popularity of Din Djarin and his child will lure Star Wars fans back into the theaters as Disney hopes. Ultimately, this is because there is no obvious reason why this movie wouldn’t have worked better as part of the television series.
