The Mandalorian & Grogu wasn't originally conceived as a movie but, during 2023's WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, Disney decided that The Mandalorian season 4 would be better served as a theatrical title.
After all, why develop a pricey series for existing Disney+ subscribers when there are potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to be made in theaters? That strategy certainly paid off for Moana 2 last November (it's so far grossed $990.3 million worldwide).
Jon Favreau is at the helm of The Mandalorian & Grogu, while Dave Filoni still intends to release his Star Wars crossover event movie somewhere down the line.
That's not heading our way until after Ahsoka season 2 at the earliest and is expected to serve as the culmination of this post-Return of the Jedi era of storytelling. While few official details have been revealed, we're anticipating it being a loose adaptation of "Heir to the Empire."
However, Filoni's movie may not be a sure thing.
According to insider Daniel Richtman (via SFFGazette.com), "I hear that if the Mando film flops, they'll reconsider their plans and turn the crossover film into a miniseries. Lucasfilm is reportedly going to play it 'safe' with their shows moving forward - whatever that means."
It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for that movie to become a TV show; what would hurt is if this becomes yet another abandoned idea from Lucasfilm that we don't see come to fruition. A previous example which immediately springs to mind is Solo: A Star Wars Story's big Maul tease. Oh, and let us not forget The Acolyte's unresolved ending.
During an appearance at Disneyland's Star Wars: Skeleton Crew premiere last month, Filoni shared an exciting update on where things stand with Ahsoka season 2.
"I'm so well into that as well. I've been writing it, and I'm still the single writer on it, and so I've been enjoying doing that, but it's a challenge, of course, and working some of these arcs through has been a challenge and making sure it's all going to come out in a way that I think is exciting for fans," he teased.
"I know that they're interested in where some of the things I developed in Season 1," Filoni continued. "I'm pretty happy with it. Love working with Rosario [Dawson], so I can’t wait to get back to that."
As for how work has progressed on The Mandalorian & Grogu movie ahead of its 2026 release, the filmmaker confirmed that shooting has wrapped (all without a single set photo finding its way online).
"I'm very excited about it as well," Filoni teased. "Jon and I had a great time working on that, as we always do. It was great seeing Grogu. He's become such a star, and it's amazing how it's evolved, what we can do now with the puppetry compared to Season 1 and where we are today in a film working with the team which I worked quite a bit with them on the puppetry."
"Legacy effects did a fantastic job, and what a wonderful little creation Grogu is," he concluded, hinting that we could see even more from the already-incredible practical Grogu puppet utilized in The Mandalorian TV series.
Keep checking back here for updates as we have them.