On Tuesday, Disney and Lucasfilm announced a new Star Wars movie featuring Din Djarin and Grogu (aka Baby Yoda), titled, The Mandalorian and Grogu. We don’t know much about the plot yet, but Jon Favreau (the director, not the podcaster) will be directing it with the usual suspects – Kathleen Kennedy, Dave Filoni, and Favreau – producing it. Production begins in 2024, so it sounds like this movie will be in place of a fourth season of the show, although Favreau said last year that he’d already written eight episodes for it. There’s also been no casting news just yet, though any of the characters from Mando universe – set in the New Republic era in between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens – could pop up. The Last of Us is supposed to begin production on season 2 in the spring of 2024, so Internet daddy Pedro Pascal is going to have one helluva busy year.
“I have loved telling stories set in the rich world that George Lucas created,” Favreau, who created The Mandalorian with Feloni, said in a statement. “The prospect of bringing the Mandalorian and his apprentice Grogu to the big screen is extremely exciting.”
“Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni have ushered into Star Wars two new and beloved characters, and this new story is a perfect fit for the big screen,” Kennedy added.
The Mandalorian, whose real name is Din Djarin and played by Pedro Pascal, was introduced in the Disney+ series, which debuted in November 2019 as the first-ever live-action Star Wars TV series. Grogu, affectionately known as Baby Yoda before his name was revealed in Season 2, became Din’s traveling companion as he journeyed through the Star Wars galaxy. The third season was released on Disney+ in March 2023.
The series is set in the years between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens films. It has brought several characters from the animated shows to live action, including Ahsoka Tano, who earned her own series. Ahsoka, starring Rosario Dawson in the title role, was released on Disney+ between August and October. Disney is now developing a second season of Ahsoka, the studio added Tuesday..
So, when I first saw this news, my initial reaction was, “Really? Why?” Then it was, “Will people who don’t have Disney+ go out to see it?” But now that I’ve had a day or so to sit on the news, here’s where I’ve landed, and I’d love to hear what others think. I would really like to see a Mando/Grogu adventure that’s only loosely tied to any of the other New Republic plotlines (including The Mandalorian, Book of Boba Fett, and Ahsoka). It would be nice if they did a reverse Marvel Cinematic Universe and use the movie as a way to hook people into watching the show rather than requiring people to watch the show in order to understand what is going on in the movie. Give us a Mando/Grogu standalone that still makes sense within the timeline it’s set in. Throw in some Carson Teva and Cobb Vanth, too.
Oh, and while I’m in Star Wars mode, did y’all see the picture that Mark Hamill posted with Natalie Portman at the Golden Globes, with the caption, “Now I have finally met my ‘mother’”? I love it so much and cannot believe that they’d never met before last weekend. Now I really, really need a picture of Hamill with both Portman and Hayden Christensen. Oh, how I wish Carrie Fisher was still alive so we could have a full “family” portrait.
Now I have finally met my "mother", thanks to the @goldenglobes. pic.twitter.com/lkRZQgmLmp
— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) January 8, 2024
one thing about Pedro Pascal is that he’ll always look like a proud dad around Grogu pic.twitter.com/02Ulg76XGI
— Ly 💫 (@spoiler4you) May 29, 2022
Photos via Instagram and Twitter and credit: IMAGO/Jennifer Bloc / Avalon
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