The Mandalorian repeatedly hinted at the Empire's cloning efforts, which we know eventually led to the creation of Supreme Leader Snoke and Emperor Palpatine's return. The Disney+ series also featured appearances from Ahsoka Tano and Luke Skywalker, not to mention Mandalore's restoration, making it hugely important to the wider Star Wars "Galaxy."
It felt a lot like the stage was being set for Din Djarin and Grogu to play a pivotal role in the impending war with Grand Admiral Thrawn, and whatever happens that leads to the First Order's rise.
Filmmaker Jon Favreau has already confirmed that The Mandalorian Season 4 was set to deal with Thrawn and set the stage for Ahsoka Season 2. Instead, we're getting The Mandalorian and Grogu, a movie that follows its leads on a quest to clean up the Imperial remnants in the midst of a father/son story.
It will still be high-stakes, as the trailers have pointed to Din being captured by the Twin Hutts, leaving Grogu to fight his way back to him. However, it won't tell the story of the First Order's rise or Snoke's emergence.
Talking to SFX (via SFFGazette.com), Favreau confirmed that, when it comes to expanding on the wider Star Wars mythos and answering all those big questions we have about the gap between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, it's no longer something he's focused on.
"Anybody who saw the sequels knows that there's a First Order coming in, like, 20 years from where we are now in the storyline," Favreau shared. "And then Ahsoka season 2 is coming out – which I've seen all of – and that's definitely more dealing with the larger [picture], a higher level."
"That's about the officers and we're the enlisted men – this is more of a ground-level experience of what's going on. You're seeing the backdrop – which, by the way, is what the first Star Wars started off as."
"If you look at the fall of empires, historically, a lot of the power brokers become warlords," he continued, "and anybody with a standing army had power in the ancient world. We see that repeat itself in history. I guess what the Shadow Council alluded to is that they're starting to actually connect. It's not just insulated warlords anymore, and there's a larger scheme afoot."
"There's something going on and Thrawn is sort of the missing link that we began to allude to at the end of season 3."
While it sounds like The Mandalorian and Grogu will allude to Thrawn's wider plans for the Galaxy, it's now down to new Lucasfilm President Dave Filoni to reveal the future of this era of Star Wars storytelling (we still don't know whether his planned crossover event movie will happen).
"Dave has grabbed the baton now with the Ahsoka show, and that's going to be taking the next step," Favreau teased. "There's a lot in that man's head and I know that he takes how it all connects very seriously. Now Dave is in his new position, he's been figuring out where things are moving forward after this. He's got a lot of responsibility there."
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. A new TV spot, full of never-before-seen footage, has also been released: