It's official: They're making a Mandalorian movie

The Mandalorian is the first-ever live-action Star Wars TV show, all about a wandering Mandalorian warrior named Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his adorable little Force-sensitive infant protégé Grogu, aka Baby Yoda. The show has been going strong for three seasons, but a while back, we heard rumors that rather than make a fourth season of the TV show, Disney was considering making a Mandalorian movie instead. Although we don't know all the details, Disney has just confirmed that a Mandalorian movie is indeed happening. Its title? The Mandalorian & Grogu. Check out the official concept art above.

“I have loved telling stories set in the rich world that George Lucas created,” said The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau. “The prospect of bringing the Mandalorian and his apprentice Grogu to the big screen is extremely exciting.”

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy also weighed in: "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."

Is The Mandalorian movie being made in place of or in addition to The Mandalorian season 4?

So a Mandalorian movie is officially in development. The next question is whether the movie is being made in place of a fourth season of the show, or in addition to it.

The post on StarWars.com doesn't say for certain, but it does list several other Star Wars projects in the works, including upcoming films from directors Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (who's making a movie about Rey from the Star Wars sequel trilogy), James Mangold and Dave Filoni, who is also working on a second season of Star Wars: Ahsoka. They don't mention a fourth season of The Mandalorian, so I'm inclined to believe the movie is replacing it.

That's consistent with the rumors we heard back in August. That was the middle of the Hollywood writers and actors strikes, when the industry had basically shut down. Word was that Disney was concerned about whether Filoni and Favreau -- who have guided The Mandalorian since the beginning -- could make a fourth season of The Mandalorian as well as a second season of Ahsoka in a timely manner, and were considering turning The Mandalorian season 4 into a movie so the schedule would work out better.

According to those rumors, new seasons of The Mandalorian and Ahsoka are important to setting up another planned Star Wars movie, this one directed by Filoni himself. That movie will tie in events from both series as well as The Book of Boba Fett. Disney was on a time crunch.

We don't have official confirmation for exactly why this is all happening, but this seems like a plausible explanation to me: Disney intended to make a fourth season of The Mandalorian, which it needed to do in order to set up a new Star Wars movie from Dave Filoni. The strikes messed up their shooting schedule, so now The Mandalorian season 4 will become a movie called The Mandalorian & Grogu. Along with Ahsoka season 2, that will move pieces into place for another Star Wars movie down the line.

These are the kinds of things that can happen when you want your TV shows to be part of a wider cinematic universe. We don't know when The Mandalorian & Grogu will bow in theaters, but the press release mentions that it will start shooting this year.

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