The Mandalorian and Grogu

• 1. Introduction

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  The Mandalorian and Grogu had its world premiere at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on the 14th of May 2026. It was the first Star Wars film to open in theaters since The Rise of Skywalker seven years earlier. The journey to that premiere was indirect. Scripts for a fourth season of The Mandalorian were complete by February 2023, with filming scheduled to begin that September. The 2023 Hollywood labor disputes halted those plans. When the industry resumed work, Lucasfilm chose to pursue a theatrical film rather than continue with television. The cast, composer, and core crew from the series carried the project into cinemas. What they built received a divided critical response when it reached theaters. What follows is the account of how that film came to exist, what choices shaped it, and what audiences made of it.

• 2. Roots of a Franchise

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  Jon Favreau pitched a live-action Mandalorian television series to Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy in 2017. Kennedy directed him toward Dave Filoni, who was independently conceiving a similar Mandalorian-focused project. The two joined forces. Their collaboration produced The Mandalorian, which launched in November 2019 alongside the debut of the Disney+ streaming service. It was the first live-action Star Wars television series. Shortly after that premiere, Walt Disney Studios chief creative officer Alan F. Horn raised the possibility of a Djarin film. He said it could be developed if the series proved a success. The series built an immediate following. Djarin's quarry at the start of the show is an unnamed infant of the same species as Yoda. Viewers gave the character an unofficial name: Baby Yoda. The second season of the series revealed the infant's actual name, Grogu. In September 2020, series co-star Giancarlo Esposito said the second season was building toward something larger. He described it as laying the groundwork for 'the depth and breadth that's going to come in season three and season four.' Favreau began writing a fourth season by late May 2022. When the film was announced in January 2024, Noah Kloor joined Favreau and Filoni as a third co-writer. Kloor had previously collaborated with Favreau on The Book of Boba Fett. The following month, California allocated $21,755,000 in tax credits to the production. This was one of the largest single allocations in the state's filming incentive program. The film was projected to generate over $166 million in qualified expenditures and wages within the state. That commitment marked the first time a Star Wars theatrical film would be shot entirely in California.

• 3. Thunder Alley

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  Production began in California several weeks before Favreau and Filoni confirmed it publicly in early August 2024. The film was shot under the working title Thunder Alley. Principal photography was planned to last 92 days. The production brought together roughly 54 cast members, 500 crew members, and 3,500 background extras. David Klein, who had served as cinematographer on the third season of The Mandalorian, returned in that capacity. Filoni and Mandalorian director Peter Ramsey oversaw the second unit. Approximately 49 minutes of the film were captured in the full-frame IMAX ratio. This allowed the image to expand on compatible screens during key sequences. Favreau and Filoni said they aimed to push the action, spectacle, and practical effects beyond what had been possible on the series. They maintained that the characters connecting with audiences remained more important than scale. Tippett Studio contributed stop motion animation to the film. A new Razor Crest was built for the production, replacing the ship that had been destroyed in the second season of the series. Costume designer Mary Zophres returned to work with Favreau for the first time since Iron Man 2 in 2010. Sigourney Weaver confirmed her casting at the end of August. Photography wrapped by early December 2024. In mid-December, Jeremy Allen White was cast to provide the voice of Rotta the Hutt.

• 4. Faces and Voices

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  Pedro Pascal, who had played Din Djarin across the first three seasons of The Mandalorian, returned to the role. Pascal described the film as the start of a new chapter. The third season had ended with Djarin agreeing to work for the New Republic. Pascal said this gave the character a chance to combine bounty-hunter instincts with doing 'what he knows is right' for 'the good guys.' On set, the character was also portrayed by Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder, serving as physical doubles. A central question in the film is Djarin's helmet. Mandalorian creed prohibits removing it in front of others. The third season showed Djarin paying penance for violating that rule. The film unmasks him again. Favreau said the production did not reach that decision lightly. He described it as a balance between honoring the established story and the wish to show more of Pascal's face.

  Grogu, Djarin's ward, is created through animatronics and puppetry augmented with visual effects. Producer Kathleen Kennedy called him a 'perfect example of a character that has to emote and you have to feel connected to.' She noted this connection happens without the character ever speaking.

  Jeremy Allen White voices Rotta the Hutt, the son of Jabba the Hutt. White drew on the voice established for Jabba in earlier Star Wars productions when performing the role. Favreau compared Rotta to Adonis Creed from the Creed films, saying both characters live in the shadow of famous fathers. Rotta is unusual among Hutts in the franchise: he competes in gladiator-style fights and functions as a physical threat.

  Sigourney Weaver played Ward, a colonel leading the New Republic's Adelphi Rangers and a former Rebel Alliance pilot. Martin Scorsese provided the voice of Hugo Durant, an Ardennian shopkeeper. Anthony Daniels, the actor who played C-3PO across the Star Wars films, contributed a voice cameo as an air traffic control droid. Jonny Coyne appeared as an Imperial Warlord in the third season of The Mandalorian. He had been scheduled for multiple episodes of the planned fourth season, but Favreau approached him to appear in the film instead. Co-writer Dave Filoni and several directors from The Mandalorian series also appear on screen as New Republic X-Wing pilots. The Mandalorian and Grogu features opening credits, the first time any Star Wars film has included them.

• 5. Göransson's Return

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  Ludwig Göransson was confirmed as the film's composer in September 2025. He had scored the first two seasons of The Mandalorian and contributed themes for the third. Scoring sessions took place during the first half of January 2026 at the Fox Studio Lot in Los Angeles. Walt Disney Records released the full digital soundtrack on the 15th of May 2026, a week before the film opened. A 12-inch vinyl edition featuring 13 cues from the score followed on the 5th of June. A separate special edition was pressed in the shape of the Mandalorian's helmet. It carried two score cues not available on any other release and came out on the 22nd of May, the same day the film opened in theaters.

• 6. An Uncertain Campaign

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  Favreau and Filoni presented the first footage from the film at Disney's D23 convention in August 2024. A panel at Star Wars Celebration Japan in April 2025 followed with additional footage and first-look photographs. An animatronic Grogu also appeared on stage with the filmmakers. A teaser trailer was released online in late September 2025. It had been planned for the previous week but was delayed repeatedly. The delays coincided with a controversy over Disney's decision to suspend its ABC late-night program Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Some viewers and commentators interpreted the timing as an attempt at distraction. Writing for Polygon, Matt Patches said the teaser should have felt like a 'massive event.' Instead, he wrote, it read like Disney was attempting 'a Jedi mind trick.' James Hibberd at The Hollywood Reporter said the teaser presented 'a different vibe for a Star Wars film' and called it 'very lighthearted and family friendly.'

  A television spot aired during Super Bowl LX. It showed Din Djarin and Grogu riding a wagon pulled by tauntauns, narrated by Sam Elliott. The spot was a deliberate parody of the Budweiser Clydesdale advertisements associated with the Super Bowl. Lucasfilm said the idea was to honor that advertising tradition. The studio described the spot as reminding audiences of 'the fun, heart, and spectacle that defines Star Wars.' Omar L. Gallaga, writing for the Los Angeles Times, ranked it ninth on his list of the best Super Bowl LX ads. Ryan Scott and Pauli Poisuo, writing for /Film, called it 'the worst Star Wars spot we've ever seen.' The official trailer arrived in mid-February 2026. It confirmed that Pascal would be shown unmasked and that Martin Scorsese and the bounty hunter Embo had roles in the film.

  In May 2026, Disney posted footage of Pascal dressed as the Mandalorian at the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge area of Disneyland in California. The video appeared to show him surprising a group of fans. It drew criticism when it emerged that the attendees were Star Wars content creators invited by Disney. Hibberd reported that the group were genuine fans with small social media followings who had not been told Pascal would appear. He added that Pascal, Weaver, Favreau, and Filoni also spent time with ordinary tourists at the park after the stunt was filmed. The combined marketing and production budget for the film was reported at $300 million.

• 7. In Theaters

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  The Mandalorian and Grogu opened in the United States on the 22nd of May 2026. It played across approximately 4,300 theaters in IMAX, 3D, 4DX, ScreenX, and other premium formats. Going into the opening weekend, projections placed the four-day total at around $82 million. That estimate sat at the low end of any Star Wars title Disney had released since its 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm. The opening day brought in $33 million, including $12 million from Thursday night previews. After that, projections were revised upward to $91-96 million. The four-day total finished at $98.1 million, with $81.7 million across the traditional three-day window. The film topped the domestic box office. Still, that figure marked the lowest opening for a Star Wars film since Solo: A Star Wars Story in 2018. Internationally, the film earned $110.1 million. The worldwide total stood at $246.9 million as of the 31st of May, placing it seventh among the highest-grossing films of 2026.

  Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of A-. Separately, 71 percent of those surveyed by PostTrak said they would definitely recommend it. Critics were more divided. Clarisse Loughrey at The Independent called it 'the dullest and most inconsequential Star Wars ever made.' Giovanni Lago at Next Best Picture wrote that 'nothing about The Mandalorian and Grogu feels worthy of gracing IMAX screens.' Germain Lussier at Gizmodo said it 'doesn't tell a vital story that pushes the characters or series into new territory.' Frank Scheck at The Hollywood Reporter said it 'feels stubbornly small in its relatively inconsequential storyline and themes.'

  Writing for Consequence, Liz Shannon Miller gave it a B and compared the central dynamic to Lone Wolf and Cub in space. She wrote that Star Wars felt like it was 'spinning its wheels.' Erik Kain at Forbes called it 'an absolute blast.' He argued that the film format delivered cinematic moments a stretched television season would not have produced. Peter Bradshaw at The Guardian said the film lacked enough 'humanity, humour and extravagant space melodrama.' He described these qualities as what has made and continues to make Star Wars lovable.

  Pascal's performance, Grogu, and the score were the elements critics most consistently praised. The action sequences and visual effects drew the sharpest criticism. At the Golden Trailer Awards on the 28th of May 2026, the film was entered in three categories. These were Best Original Score for a cue titled 'Hope,' Best Fantasy/Adventure, and Best Summer 2026 Blockbuster Trailer.