Mandalorian & Grogu Movie Completely Flipping A Big Season 1 Problem Detailed by Jon Favreau

Published Apr 16, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT

Ahead of the film's May 22 debut, ScreenRant's Ash Crossan participated in a roundtable interview with Jon Favreau to discuss The Mandalorian and Grogu. When asked about why the film's story was better suited for a theatrical outing rather than a Disney+ one, the co-writer/director admitted that it was "a back and forth conversation" between himself and the rest of the creative team, looking at the film as being like "a paint set" and reflecting on "what you could do with it."

From there, they felt inspired "by what you have available to you and taking the limitations away," even though shifting to the theatrical format became "a new challenge" for them. He even likened it to a problem they faced in The Mandalorian season 1, in which "people weren't seeing Star Wars on Disney+," only in theaters, and as such had to find a way to "engage" with fans of the franchise:

Jon Favreau: How do you connect with the audience in a way that's meaningful, but also something we're excited about? What do we want to do? Because when we're having fun — to me — when we're digging what we're doing, it tends to be contagious, right? Not always, as I say, if that were true, then Cannonball Run would be the highest grossing movie of all time. How much fun you had making a film — now, I'm even older, I don't know if people know what that is. That joke was funny 20 years ago, but I think passion and excitement is something that people feel.

Even while finding it to be a challenge, Favreau did find that The Mandalorian and Grogu's two-hour format lets them "completely reframe" the way they approach telling their stories, particularly after they put their original plans for season 4 on hold in lieu of making the film. The co-writer/director acknowledged that "people have seen everything up to this point," and thus had to go back to their mentality in season 1 of knowing that "somebody might have seen everything with Star Wars," and therefore "you've got to make it good for them":

Jon Favreau: Those are your people. That's you, that's me. But you also want to always have an outstretched hand to somebody new who may not have done it and seen it before. You don't want to be exclusionary for that, because you want to bring the next generation in and, hopefully, you could speak to both. Here, two-hour format, totally different trajectory and form. So I think the form informed the story more than the story informed the form.

One of the big questions that has lingered among fans of the series throughout the film's development is why The Mandalorian and Grogu was moving forward when season 4 was also on the horizon. Given both characters' stories had largely been relegated to seasons with episodes generally averaging around 40 minutes long, with the longest being season 3's "The Convert" at 59 minutes, it understandably raises curiosity as to how the film will set itself apart.

Based on Favreau's comments, though, it does sound like The Mandalorian and Grogu won't simply be a longer episode of the show, but instead its own adventure. Having to change things up for a shorter format does create the opportunity for him, Filoni and Kloor to reconfigure their approach to the characters. It also gives them the chance to deliver the biggest story that the Mandalorian timeline has seen yet, and either start wrapping up some storylines, or pave the way for a new route for the show to go down.

What is still unclear is what The Mandalorian's future looks like beyond the new Star Wars movie's release. As Favreau himself indicated, shifting focus to the film has given the whole creative team a new perspective on the characters and their stories, and could very well then change up their previously finished season 4 scripts for another film, or for a proper new season.

Related

What Is Going On With The Mandalorian Season 4

The future of The Mandalorian is uncertain. It's been years since season 3, there's an upcoming movie, and no one knows if season 4 is happening.

The most recent Mandalorian and Grogu trailer, however, has raised some speculation about whether Pascal's eponymous hero will meet his demise by the end of the film. The tone is very much one of what Grogu will do without Din Djarin around, and there's even a shot of the young Yoda-like character holding a non-moving hand of the latter, leading some to wonder if it's in his dying moments. However, given how well-loved the character is, and Pascal no longer being busy with The Last of Us, his schedule is certainly more open now to keep the Star Wars series going.

Release Date May 22, 2026