We first met Jonny Coyne's Lord Janu in "Chapter 23: The Spies," the seventh episode of The Mandalorian's third season. A member of Moff Gideon's Shadow Council, the Imperial Warlord wasn't given a name at the time, but returns for a pivotal role in The Mandalorian and Grogu.
Earlier this month, we got to sit down with Jonny to discuss his role in the movie. It's no secret that writer and director Jon Favreau originally had plans for The Mandalorian Season 4 before the decision was made to pivot from another 8-episode season to a feature film.
Scripts for the season were written, but Favreau put them to one side to focus on telling a standalone, new-viewer-friendly story featuring Din Djarin and The Child's big screen debuts.
Chances are, at least some of those Season 4 ideas made it into The Mandalorian and Grogu. Coyne confirmed as much when he told us that original plans called for him to return in The Mandalorian TV series.
"I think I was definitely booked to do a fourth season," he tells us in the video below. "That was the original plan. But at some point, because of the actor strike, the writer strike, and the change in the way everything is done, they just felt that they could tell the story much better as a movie. I think it benefits from it, to be honest with you."
"Not that I know what the story was going to be like. I knew I was going to be in it, but I'm just thrilled that it's become this massive movie, which we're all excited about," the actor continued. "[In The Mandalorian], it was two lines as a hologram. I had two lines, but he obviously liked my face and the demeanour that I had and thought maybe I could use this for other things."
"And obviously, whatever plans they had for Season 4 — I don't know what those plans were or how solid they were because I think they were still thinking, 'Should we do Season 4 or should we do a movie?'" Coyne continued. "So I didn't know how I fitted in all that. Just very excited to get the call."
Chances are, we'll never know what Favreau had planned for The Mandalorian Season 4. As of right now, it's unclear whether we're getting a fourth batch of episodes or a big-screen follow-up to The Mandalorian and Grogu. That decision will likely hinge on how the movie performs at the box office.
For what it's worth, the filmmaker has said he would be open to either, but appears keen to keep these characters in theaters after helming the first Star Wars movie since 2019's The Rise of Skywalker.
You can hear more from Coyne on his Star Wars role in the player below.
"The Mandalorian and Grogu is a fun, pulpy reminder that Star Wars doesn’t need to grow up; it just needs to be entertaining," we said in our review. "Jon Favreau's action-packed love letter delivers exactly the crowd-pleasing adventure fans have been craving."
In The Mandalorian and Grogu, the evil Empire has fallen, and Imperial warlords remain scattered throughout the galaxy. As the fledgling New Republic works to protect everything the Rebellion fought for, they have enlisted the help of legendary Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his young apprentice Grogu.
Directed by Jon Favreau, the movie also stars Sigourney Weaver and Jeremy Allen White. It's produced by Jon Favreau, Kathleen Kennedy, Dave Filoni, and Ian Bryce, with music composed by Ludwig Göransson.
The Mandalorian and Grogu arrives in theaters on May 22.