Although The Mandalorian & Grogu is a more self-contained Star Wars story centered on Pedro Pascal's Din Djarin and his adopted son, it's still set during the age of the New Republic, one of the busiest time periods in the Disney era. As a result, it's easy to wonder where some of the biggest and most popular "Mandoverse" characters are during the events of this latest Star Wars movie.
Since 2019, The Mandalorian series has been the cornerstone of an interconnected franchise of series and projects set in the years just after the original trilogy of films. As such, the "Mandoverse" has come to include key characters like Ahsoka Tano, Boba Fett, Luke Skywalker, and more key heroes and villains critical to the New Republic timeline, though many of them are nowhere to be found in Din Djarin and Grogu's big-screen debut.
Keeping that in mind, it's worth exploring where some of the biggest New Republic characters are during the events of The Mandalorian & Grogu while Din Djarin and his apprentice are dealing with the Hutts and Imperial Remnant warlords.
Luke Skywalker
The only full-fledged official Jedi Knight during this era (so far), Luke Skywalker was last seen in the New Republic era at the end of The Book of Boba Fett, having given Grogu the choice between continuing his Jedi training on Ossus or returning to Din Djarin, leaving his Jedi path behind. Ultimately, Grogu chose to return to Djarin, choosing to become a Mandalorian, effectively freeing up Luke to eventually take his nephew Ben Solo on as a new Jedi apprentice in a few years.
Most likely, Luke Skywalker is still on Ossus during the events of The Mandalorian & Grogu, continuing to build and prepare for his Jedi academy.
Ahsoka Tano
Credit: LucasfilmLast seen in her own Disney+ series, former Jedi Ahsoka Tano was last seen being stranded on the extragalactic world of Peridea along with her apprentice Sabine Wren and the Jedi droid Huyang after helping Ezra Bridger escape the world aboard Grand Admiral Thrawn's Star Destroyer. As teased in Ahsoka season 1's cliffhanger and the brand-new trailer for Ahsoka season 2, Ahsoka and Sabine will seek an ancient power that "could end wars" before it's found by the fallen Jedi Baylan Skoll and his own apprentice Shin Hati.
This makes Ahsoka's absence from The Mandalorian & Grogu perfectly understandable. Based on the given timeline and a second season of her show on the way, Ahsoka has absolutely got her hands full, despite having been an ally to Djarin and Grogu in the past. Perhaps they'll unite in a future Star Wars project (like Dave Filoni's Star Wars crossover movie).
Bo-Katan
Image via Disney+Bo-Katan Kryze was last seen in The Mandalorian season 3 after helping liberate Mandalore and becoming the leader of its reunited people, having brought all the surviving clans together under one banner. Although Din Djarin and Grogu were instrumental in that victory, the end of The Mandalorian season 3 saw Din and Grogu leaving Mandalore to settle down on Nevarro.
While Bo-Katan could have theoretically appeared in the movie as one of Din's biggest allies, she likely has plenty of new responsibilities keeping her busy on Mandalore. Likewise, the stakes in The Mandalorian & Grogu arguably aren't big enough to warrant a call for the major backup she could provide, at least not ahead of the surprise dangers Djarin and Grogu end up finding themselves in with the Hutts.
The Armorer
Much like Bo-Katan Kryze, The Armorer was also last seen at the end of The Mandalorian season 3, tending to the Great Forge of Mandalore in the aftermath of the major victory against Moff Gideon and his Imperial Remnant faction that had taken over their homeworld. As such, she's presumably still on Mandalore alongside the majority of the surviving Mandalorian warriors.
As leader of the Children of the Watch (the clan that raised Djarin), the Armorer holds a great position of authority over Din Djarin and Grogu. As such, it might have been nice to have seen a meeting between Djarin and the Armorer in The Mandalorian & Grogu.
Greef Karga
Greef Karga and Din Djarin have been connected since the very beginning of The Mandalorian. As the Magistrate of Nevarro, it was Karga who gave Din Djarin and Grogu the land for their homestead. Having become friends and strong allies, it would have been great to see a cameo from Karga during the handful of sequences when the Clan of Two was home on Nevarro in The Mandalorian & Grogu.
Last seen in The Mandalorian season 3 when Djarin and his fellow warriors helped save the people of Nevarro from a band of pirates, Karga is presumably still leading his people and working to turn the world into a major trade hub.
Unfortunately, the biggest real-life reason Greef Karga wasn't featured in the new Star Wars movie is due to the passing of actor Carl Weathers in 2024. However, there is a subtle tribute to the actor in The Mandalorian & Grogu. Just after the assembled monsters break out of Lord Janu Coin's Dejarik match, a sign above a doorway can be translated from Aurebesh that reads: "Weathers Apollo," honoring not only Weathers himself but also Apollo Creed, one of the actor's most iconic roles from the Rocky movies. Without a doubt, it's one of The Mandalorian & Grogu's best Easter eggs.
Hera Syndulla
via MovieStillsDBHera Syndulla's most recent appearance was in Ahsoka season 1, having played a key role helping Ahsoka Tano and Sabine Wren pursue those seeking to bring about Grand Admiral Thrawn's return from exile. As a New Republic general and longtime Rebel Alliance hero, Hera is also one of the most naturally connected characters to the broader political narrative at play in the New Republic timeline, one of the few to clearly recognize that the Imperial Remnant is a much bigger threat than most believe.
An appearance from Hera would have made lots of sense given Djarin's work hunting down Imperial warlords and connections with the Adelphi Rangers. After all, it was Adelphi pilots like Carson Teva who answered Hera's call in Ahsoka season 1. That being said, Hera's attention is no doubt elsewhere, having just reunited with Ezra Bridger and preparing for Thrawn now that he's back in the main Star Wars galaxy after being exiled for nearly a decade. Instead, we'll just have to wait to see Hera again in Ahsoka season 2.
Boba Fett
MovieStillsDBThe last major appearance of Boba Fett was naturally in 2021's The Book of Boba Fett, successfully taking down the Pyke Syndicate and cementing himself as Tatooine's brand-new daimyo, taking the place of Jabba the Hutt. Likewise, he received some major assistance in that effort from Din Djarin and Grogu.
Given that The Mandalorian & Grogu features Jabba's cousins as key villains, who first appeared in The Book of Boba Fett trying and failing to take Jabba's palace from Fett (as well as Jabba's son Rotta), it would have been awesome to have seen Boba Fett play a role in the new Star Wars movie, returning the favor after Djarin and Grogu helped secure his throne. However, it stands to reason that Fett is still ruling on Tatooine and protecting the people of Mos Espa.
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
Grand Admiral Thrawn
Lastly, a cameo appearance from Grand Admiral Thrawn would have made perfect sense now that he's back in the main Star Wars galaxy. A scene where Thrawn is shown coordinating with either of the movie's Imperial warlords would have been great, perhaps as a means to tee up Ahsoka season 2 and/or Filoni's Star Wars crossover movie, which many expect will have Thrawn as the primary antagonist. Either way, the new trailer for Ahsoka season 2 confirms that Thrawn is operating out of Dathomir as he prepares to wage war on the entire New Republic.
The Mandalorian & Grogu is now streaming on Disney+ from Lucasfilm.
Release Date May 20, 2026
Runtime 132 minutes
Writers Noah Kloor









English (US) ·