Pedro Pascal's Din Djarin and his adopted son Grogu are finally heading to the big screen with The Mandalorian & Grogu. Releasing in just a few days, the upcoming Star Wars movie will finally mark Lucasfilm's return to the big screen after several years. As such, there are some important things to keep in mind ahead of the movie's premiere in just a few days.
Keeping that in mind, here are some key things to know about The Mandalorian & Grogu and the current state of the greater Star Wars franchise ahead of the new movie's release next week.
The Mandalorian And Grogu Is A Continuation Of The Mandalorian Series On Disney+
©Disney+/Lucasfilm/Courtesy Everett CollectionArguably one of the most important things to understand about The Mandalorian & Grogu is that it will be a direct continuation of The Mandalorian series on Disney+, making the movie a fairly unique release within the greater Star Wars franchise. After all, it's pretty rare for a streaming series to evolve into a full-feature theatrical release with the same stars and creative team.
By all accounts, the film is set to continue the adventures of Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin and his adopted son Grogu, whose bond has become a major emotional core of the modern Star Wars franchise ever since their debut in 2019.
Three seasons of The Mandalorian (and a handful of Book of Boba Fett episodes) later, and the iconic duo is ready for their next chapter and big-screen debut. That said, trailers have suggested that The Mandalorian & Grogu will be fairly accessible for casual audiences who've never seen the show, while still rewarding longtime Star Wars fans who have.
When The Mandalorian And Grogu Is Set In The Star Wars Timeline
Like most live-action Star Wars projects on Disney+ released since 2019, The Mandalorian & Grogu will be taking place during the New Republic Era, the 30-year period between the fall of the Empire in the original trilogy of Star Wars films and the rise of the First Order in the sequel trilogy.
Shows like The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, The Book of Boba Fett, and Skeleton Crew are all roughly set five years after Return of the Jedi, or 9 ABY (After the Battle of Yavin). Seeing as how The Mandalorian and Grogu is confirmed to be set shortly after The Mandalorian season 3, it follows that the new movie will be set approximately in 9-10 ABY as well.
Din Djarin And Grogu's New Status Quo After The Mandalorian Season 3
Credit: MovieStillsDBAt the end of The Mandalorian season 3, Din Djarin and Grogu were entering a new phase of their lives as father and son. After helping Bo-Katan Kryze unite the remaining Mandalorian clans to reclaim Mandalore from Moff Gideon’s faction of the Imperial Remnant, Din officially adopted Grogu as his son, making his new full name Din Grogu. Additionally, Din Djarin agreed to start working for the New Republic, helping them track down more Imperial Remnant warlords in the Outer Rim.
Sure enough, trailers for The Mandalorian & Grogu already show Din Djarin taking on Imperial warlords and their forces, specifically warlords who were briefly featured in The Mandalorian season 3. Additionally, it looks as though Din Djarin and Grogu still have their homestead on Nevarro, which they moved into at the end of the most recent season.
Who Are The Main Villains Of The Mandalorian & Grogu?
Overall, it appears as though The Mandalorian & Grogu will have two key antagonists, the first being warlords first seen in The Mandalorian season 3's Imperial Shadow Council, leading stormtroopers with plenty of old Imperial hardware like AT-ATs, continuing the idea that the Imperial Remnant exists as a major threat in the Outer Rim despite the fall of the Galactic Empire a few years prior.
Secondly, it looks as though the Hutts will play a major role in The Mandalorian & Grogu as well, specifically Jabba the Hutt's cousins known only as The Twins. The Twins are a brother and sister duo who first debuted in The Book of Boba Fett, wanting to take over the Hutt Cartel in the wake of Jabba's death in Return of the Jedi. Shown having Din Djarin captive and ordering the removal of his helmet in trailers (a major violation of the Mandalorian Creed), the Twins will no doubt be major foes in the upcoming Star Wars movie.
Jeremy Allen White Will Play Rotta The Hutt, Son of Jabba The Hutt
One of the movie’s biggest surprises is the return of Rotta the Hutt. Originally introduced as a baby in 2008's Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Rotta was the son of Jabba the Hutt and played a surprisingly important role in that movie’s plot. Now, Rotta is making his live-action debut as a fully grown adult, voiced by none other than The Bear's Jeremy Allen White.
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
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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 (with another four nominations) 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.
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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 (because Fox didn’t value them) 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 (Irvin Kershner) or Return of the Jedi (Richard Marquand), then directed all three prequels (1999–2005). 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 (and the godfather of his post-A-New-Hope career) 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.
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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 (Anakin Skywalker) 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 (the script said “Obi-Wan killed your father”), 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 (the Jedi prodigy of the prequels) becomes Vader after his fall. Luke and Leia are revealed in Return of the Jedi to be his twin children, separated at birth.
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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 (he created the Muppets) 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.
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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 ($4 billion). 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.
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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” (Grogu). 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 (with body double Brendan Wayne handling much of the physical work). 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 (The Book of Boba Fett, 2021). 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.
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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 (2005). 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.
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08
Andor (2022–25) 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 (12 episodes, 2022) is widely regarded as Star Wars’ finest dramatic writing ever; Season 2 (also 12 episodes, in four three-episode jumps across 2025) closes the gap to Rogue One’s opening scene. Gilroy’s prior credits: Bourne Identity / Supremacy / Ultimatum / Legacy, plus directing Michael Clayton (2007).
✗ Wrong. The answer is Tony Gilroy. Rian Johnson directed The Last Jedi (2017). Jon Favreau created The Mandalorian and is Lucasfilm’s Disney+-era animation/live-action lieutenant. Dave Filoni runs the Filoniverse (Clone Wars, Rebels, Ahsoka, the upcoming Heir to the Empire film). Andor is Tony Gilroy’s.
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The Force Has Spoken · Final Tally Your Galactic Standing
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Jedi Master — or moisture farmer on Tatooine?
⤴ ANOTHER GO
As seen in trailers, Rotta appears to be some kind of gladiatorial fighter and is by far one of the most physically imposing Hutts ever seen on screen. It's going to be fascinating to learn more about his history and where he's been in the wake of his father's death.
Expect Some Familiar Animated Star Wars Faces Coming To Live-Action
Beyond Rotta, longtime Star Wars animation fans should also expect a few more familiar characters making the jump into live-action.
One confirmed returning character is Zeb Orrelios from Star Wars Rebels. Having briefly appeared in The Mandalorian season 3, it looks as though Zeb will be serving as a key partner to Din Djarin on his missions for the New Republic.
Additionally, trailers have also confirmed that the fan-favorite bounty hunter Embo will be making his live-action debut in the upcoming Star Wars movie. Embo made multiple appearances in the animated Clone Wars series as one of the galaxy's most skilled hunters and was also voiced by Lucasfilm's Dave Filoni.
The Mandalorian Season 4's Fate Is Currently Unknown
It's also important to note that The Mandalorian & Grogu is not replacing a fourth season of The Mandalorian per se. According to creator Jon Favreau, scripts for The Mandalorian season 4 were already written before the pivot to making a theatrical movie instead. However, Favreau reportedly started over from scratch for the movie.
Apparently, the fourth season was going to feature more connections to Grand Admiral Thrawn and Dave Filoni's Ahsoka series, as well as more appearances from the members of the Imperial Shadow Council from season 3. At the moment, Lucasfilm has not officially confirmed whether season 4 still exists as a future project or not, though it's probably a good bet that that decision will largely depend on the movie’s success.
Why The Mandalorian & Grogu Is So Important For Star Wars’ Future
The Mandalorian & Grogu is a very important Star Wars release for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it’s the franchise’s first theatrical movie since 2019's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. After years of only streaming projects, The Mandalorian & Grogu will see Lucasfilm getting back to the franchise's origins with new releases being major blockbuster events.
Additionally, The Mandalorian & Grogu is also expected to help build toward Dave Filoni’s upcoming crossover movie currently in development. Reported to be a culminating project for the New Republic Era, many fans expect it to function not unlike the Heir to the Empire storyline from Legends, with Grand Admiral Thrawn being the overarching big bad, tying all of these ongoing New Republic storylines together. As such, The Mandalorian & Grogu could play a large role in setting up this future movie from Filoni.
The Mandalorian & Grogu is set to release in theaters on May 22nd from Lucasfilm.
Release Date May 22, 2026
Runtime 132 Minutes
English (US) ·