It's been six long years since a "Star Wars" movie lit up theater screens, not counting this past summer's "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith" rerelease to salute its 20th anniversary, so it's high time fans were given a proper space fantasy from the empire that George Lucas built.
Director Jon Favreau's "The Mandalorian and Grogu" aims to be that cinematic salvation, and it arrives in theaters on May 22, 2026, carrying with it a "new hope" for the ailing franchise. But is it enough?
"The Mandalorian" TV series lasted for three seasons on Disney+, plus an adjacent miniseries, "The Book of Boba Fett", which was effectively season 2.5. The spinoff movie was initially revealed at Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo, Japan, back in April. Now the first full trailer has launched, and while it's jam-packed with awesome scenes, it doesn't give us much more of a clue as to what the overall plot might be.
Starring Pedro Pascal as the Beskar-clad assassin Din Djarin, "The Mandalorian and Grogu's" official teaser is more of a loose collection of snippets that don't exactly form a clear picture of the film's narrative through-line. Sure, it's cute to see Mando and Grogu staking out an Imperial installation and the little green creature doing his curiosity thing with objects, but we challenge anyone to formulate a cohesive answer as to what this movie is really about.
There are shots of a shiny new Razor Crest, Din Djarin kicking butt in a bar, Baby Yoda swimming, "Star Wars Rebels"' Zeb, a gladiator arena, brutish robot enforcers, and an AT-AT falling off a snowy ridge. Plenty of trailers spoil too much of the movie they're advertising, but we can't help but feel Disney has gone too far in the opposite direction for this one.
Sigourney Weaver is the only human we recognize in the trailer, wearing what seems to be the uniform of a Rebel Alliance commander, and along with some kid-friendly cameos by Anzellans.
With a family-style screenplay courtesy of Favreau and Dave Filoni, this next "Star Wars" installment also stars Jeremy Allen White as Jabba's son, Rotta the Hutt, and Jonny Coyne as an Imperial warlord.
Honestly, we're still not totally convinced we needed a Mandalorian and Grogu movie after 24 episodes of the armored bounty hunter and little Baby Yoda galavanting around the galaxy far, far away.
Apparently, Lucasfilm decided against a fourth "Mando" season and instead took director Jon Favreau's ideas for another outing and molded them into a feature film project. Would we have been better off with a "Knights of the Old Republic" movie, maybe an adaptation of author Alexander Freed's "Alphabet Squadron Trilogy," or even an animated anthology following IDW's "Star Wars: Tales From Vader's Castle" comic book series?
Perhaps. While this is a puzzling first trailer, we'll reserve final judgment for a proper, longer preview. After all, this is the way.
Ready or not, Disney/Lucasfilm's "The Mandalorian and Grogu" blasts into theaters on May 22, 2026.
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