Grogu standing in front of a group of anzellans in The Mandalorian and Grogu
Jon Favreau addresses why The Mandalorian and Grogu is the first new Star Wars movie in seven years. After releasing a new film every year from 2015-2019, the franchise largely shifted to focusing on streaming series for Disney+.
During this seven-year period, many in-development films were announced, including three movies at Star Wars Celebration 2023. However, it was The Mandalorian and Grogu, which wasn't announced until January 2024, that would end up being the franchise's official return to the big screen.
In an interview with GamesRadar+, Favreau, who is The Mandalorian and Grogu's director and co-writer, admits that he doesn't know the exact reason why this was chosen to be the first new Star Wars movie in years, but that he suspects it has to do with the two titular characters being so ubiquitous and accessible. He acknowledges how even those who don't follow the franchise are aware of Grogu, and as with The Mandalorian season 1, the movie is designed for both longtime fans and new viewers.
Check out Favreau's comments below: I'm not sure what, exactly, why we were asked to do this. I suspect it was because these are characters that people, even who hadn't seen Star Wars, may be aware of, especially Grogu. Baby Yoda was everywhere. And these are two characters that were used to launch Disney Plus, and we made no assumptions when the Mandalorian TV show came on that anybody had seen any Star Wars before.
But we also wanted to make it feel authentic to Star Wars, and so the world that we created as the backdrop and the way the characters present themselves were embraced by Star Wars fans, which I really appreciate. But it also was an inroad for people who may not have ever watched Star Wars on television, and here we are now, seven years after the last film.
I think there's an opportunity to present Star Wars to a new audience using these characters as well. Favreau is the creator and showrunner of The Mandalorian, which helped launch Disney+ in November 2019. As he alludes to, season 1 in particular became a pop culture phenomenon that extended far beyond the normal reaches of the Star Wars fandom.
The universal father-son story between Din Djarin and Grogu could be understood and appreciated regardless of how familiar someone was with the franchise's history. ScreenRant.com | SW Holocron Archive Interactive Quiz ScreenRant/ Movies/ Star Wars/ Trivia A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away · Eight Questions How Well Do You Know Star Wars?
“The Force will be with you. Always. ” 🗡️Jedi OrderLight-side guardians ⚡The SithRule of two ⚙️The RebellionA new hope 🪓Bounty HuntersThis is the way 👑The EmpireOrder 66 PUNCH IT! → QUESTION 1 / 8A NEW HOPE 01 The original Star Wars film — later retitled Episode IV: A New Hope — opened in just 32 American theatres and proceeded to become the highest-grossing film of its era, redefining what summer blockbusters could be.
In which year did it premiere? A1975 B1977 C1979 D1980 ✓ Correct! 1977 — specifically May 25. 20th Century Fox had so little faith in the project they only opened it in 32 theatres at first; queues quickly stretched around the block, and the film expanded to over 1,000 screens within months. It earned $307 million in its initial domestic run, won six Academy Awards and inverted Hollywood’s economics for the next 50 years. ✗ Wrong.
The answer is 1977. 1975 is when the script was being shopped around. 1979 is when Star Trek: The Motion Picture released as a Star Wars-shaped countermove. 1980 is The Empire Strikes Back. The original Star Wars is May 25, 1977.
NEXT → QUESTION 2 / 8THE CREATOR 02 A New Hope’s writer-director was a then-32-year-old American Graffiti veteran who’d struggled to get the project greenlit and famously took back-end profit and merchandising rights in lieu of a higher salary — the deal that would build a billion-dollar company. He returned to direct the prequels but stepped away from the original-trilogy sequels. Name him. ASteven Spielberg BGeorge Lucas CFrancis Ford Coppola DIrvin Kershner ✓ Correct!
George Lucas. The merchandising rights he kept became the financial bedrock of Lucasfilm and the basis of the modern toys-and-licensing megabusiness. After A New Hope, Lucas produced but didn’t direct Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi , then directed all three prequels . He sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012 and stepped away from creative control of the sequels.
✗ Wrong. The answer is George Lucas. Steven Spielberg was Lucas’s close friend but never directed a Star Wars film. Coppola was Lucas’s mentor at USC and at American Zoetrope.
Irvin Kershner directed Empire Strikes Back. The original is Lucas’s.
NEXT → QUESTION 3 / 8THE TWIST 03 In 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader delivers cinema’s most-misquoted line at the climax of his Cloud City duel with Luke Skywalker. Vader severs Luke’s hand and reveals their relationship. The exact line is — for the record — “No, I am your father. ” What relationship does it confirm?
AVader is Luke’s uncle BVader is Luke’s father CVader is Obi-Wan’s brother DVader is Han’s father ✓ Correct! Vader is Anakin Skywalker, Luke’s father. The reveal was so jealously guarded that Mark Hamill was only told the real line on set the day they shot it , and even James Earl Jones recorded the dub without knowing the full plot context.
The line — commonly misquoted as “Luke, I am your father” — rewrote what trilogies could pull off and is broadly considered cinema’s most famous twist. ✗ Wrong. The answer is that Vader is Luke’s father, Anakin Skywalker. The whole foundation of the Skywalker saga collapses to this single twist: Anakin becomes Vader after his fall.
Luke and Leia are revealed in Return of the Jedi to be his twin children, separated at birth. NEXT → QUESTION 4 / 8THE GREEN MASTER 04 Yoda — the green, ear-twitching Jedi Master — was puppeted and voiced from his Empire Strikes Back debut through the prequels and the sequels by a single Muppet-show-veteran performer who also voices Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear. Name him. AJim Henson BFrank Oz CSteve Whitmire DBrian Henson ✓ Correct!
Frank Oz — longtime Jim Henson collaborator and voice/puppet work on Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam Eagle and Grover. Oz puppeted Yoda directly through The Phantom Menace before CGI took over for Attack of the Clones onward, but he’s continued to voice the character through the sequels and animated series. Yoda’s syntax was developed jointly by Lucas and Oz to feel old, foreign and hard-won. ✗ Wrong.
The answer is Frank Oz. Jim Henson was Oz’s mentor and collaborator but didn’t voice Yoda. Steve Whitmire took over Kermit after Henson’s 1990 death. Brian Henson is Jim’s son and runs the Henson company today.
Yoda is Frank Oz’s. NEXT → QUESTION 5 / 8THE DISNEY DEAL 05 In a deal that reshaped Hollywood, Disney acquired Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion in cash and stock — bringing Star Wars, Indiana Jones, ILM and Skywalker Sound under the Disney umbrella. The deal also kicked off the sequel trilogy production. In what year did Disney close the acquisition?
A2009 B2010 C2012 D2014 ✓ Correct! 2012 — specifically October 30. The deal was announced with simultaneous reveal that a Star Wars Episode VII was being developed for a 2015 release. Lucas had been quietly preparing his exit from Lucasfilm for years; Kathleen Kennedy had been brought in as co-chair months earlier specifically to take over. The Force Awakens came out three years later, in December 2015, kicking off the modern era.
✗ Wrong. The answer is 2012. 2009 is when Disney acquired Marvel . 2010 is the year before Lucas began signalling exit plans. 2014 is when production proper began on The Force Awakens. Lucasfilm joined Disney on October 30, 2012.
NEXT → QUESTION 6 / 8THE MANDALORIAN 06 The Mandalorian launched as Disney+’s flagship original on November 12, 2019 — the day the streaming service itself launched. Created by Jon Favreau and run by Dave Filoni, the show centres on a helmeted bounty hunter who reluctantly becomes a foster father to “The Child” . What is the Mandalorian’s real name? ABoba Fett BCobb Vanth CDin Djarin DBo-Katan Kryze ✓ Correct!
Din Djarin — played by Pedro Pascal under the helmet . The Mandalorian is widely credited with reviving Star Wars on TV, popularising the StageCraft LED-volume virtual production technology now used across Hollywood, and turning baby Yoda — Grogu — into the meme-economy phenomenon of late 2019. Three seasons have aired with a feature film, The Mandalorian & Grogu, set for May 2026. ✗ Wrong.
The answer is Din Djarin. Boba Fett is the famous bounty hunter from the original trilogy, with his own Disney+ spinoff . Cobb Vanth is the Tatooine marshal played by Timothy Olyphant. Bo-Katan Kryze is the Mandalorian princess played by Katee Sackhoff.
The Mandalorian himself is Din Djarin. NEXT → QUESTION 7 / 8ORDER 66 07 Order 66 — the secret directive that turns the Republic’s clone troopers against their Jedi commanders and effectively ends the Jedi Order — is dramatised in the climactic third act of which prequel film? AEpisode I: The Phantom Menace BEpisode II: Attack of the Clones CEpisode III: Revenge of the Sith DRogue One ✓ Correct! Episode III: Revenge of the Sith .
Palpatine’s “Execute Order 66” comm to the clone armies leads to the methodical, planet-by-planet liquidation of the Jedi Order — one of the saga’s most operatic sequences, scored to John Williams’ “Anakin’s Betrayal” cue. The same film features Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side, the Mustafar duel with Obi-Wan, and his rebirth as Darth Vader in the suit. Widely re-evaluated as the best of the prequels. ✗ Wrong.
The answer is Revenge of the Sith. Phantom Menace ends with Qui-Gon’s death and the unveiling of Darth Maul. Attack of the Clones ends with the Clone Wars beginning. Rogue One is set just before A New Hope, after Order 66 has long since happened.
The Order 66 sequence is the climax of Episode III. NEXT → QUESTION 8 / 8ANDOR 08 Andor is widely regarded as the most adult, politically literate Star Wars project ever made — a slow-burn prequel to Rogue One charting Cassian Andor’s radicalisation against the Empire. The series was created and showrun by a writer/director best known for the original Bourne trilogy and Michael Clayton. Name him.
ATony Gilroy BRian Johnson CJon Favreau DDave Filoni ✓ Correct! Tony Gilroy. He’d previously been brought in for extensive Rogue One reshoots in 2016, and Lucasfilm gave him near-total creative independence on Andor. Season 1 is widely regarded as Star Wars’ finest dramatic writing ever; Season 2 closes the gap to Rogue One’s opening scene.
Gilroy’s prior credits: Bourne Identity / Supremacy / Ultimatum / Legacy, plus directing Michael Clayton . ✗ Wrong. The answer is Tony Gilroy. Rian Johnson directed The Last Jedi .
Jon Favreau created The Mandalorian and is Lucasfilm’s Disney+-era animation/live-action lieutenant. Dave Filoni runs the Filoniverse . Andor is Tony Gilroy’s. REVEAL MY RATING → The Force Has Spoken · Final Tally Your Galactic Standing 🗡️ / 8 Jedi Master — or moisture farmer on Tatooine?
⤴ ANOTHER GO The Mandalorian season 1's success set the foundation for Disney+ and paved the way for more live-action Star Wars shows, including the critically acclaimed and award-winning Andor. However, in season 3 especially, the series began to become more entrenched in Mandalorian lore and other aspects of canon, which led to the overall reception generally becoming less favorable.
The Mandalorian and Grogu's story appears to be going back to some of the roots that made season 1 such a hit, with an emphasis on the two main characters' relationship and their story being accessible for everyone. Given how well-established and popular Din and Grogu are, Favreau is likely also correct about this being seen as a safer box office bet than some of the other Star Wars movies that have been in the works in recent years.
These other titles have included Patty Jenkins' Rogue Squadron, Steven Soderbergh's The Hunt for Ben Solo, a trilogy from The Last Jedi's Rian Johnson, a separate trilogy from Game of Thrones' D.B. Weiss and David Benioff, and a film by Taika Waititi.
At Star Wars Celebration 2023, the three movies announced were James Mangold's Dawn of the Jedi, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's New Jedi Order centered on Rey, and a Dave Filoni movie serving as a culmination of The Mandalorian and other shows dealing with the threat of the Imperial Remnant and Grand Admiral Thrawn . Some of these projects have been scrapped entirely while others remain in development.
The Mandalorian and Grogu has become a reality before any of them and will be followed in 2027 by Starfighter, a movie directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Gosling that has completed filming. Along with Din and Grogu, The Mandalorian and Grogu features Colonel Ward , Garazeb"Zeb" Orrelios , Rotta the Hutt , and numerous Anzellans, who are the same species as The Rise of Skywalker's fan-favorite character Babu Frik.
Favreau co-wrote the script with Filoni and Noah Kloor. The Mandalorian and Grogu releases in theaters on May 22. The Mandalorian and Grogu Like Follow Followed 12 Sci-Fi Adventure Action Release Date May 22, 2026 Director Jon Favreau Writers Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni Cast See All Producers Dave Filoni, Ian Bryce, Jon Favreau, Kathleen Kennedy Sequel Dave Filoni's Untitled Mandalorian Movie Franchise Star Wars Powered by Expand Collapse
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