From the very outset of the series, The Mandalorian has been a joint passion project between two individuals: Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni. Set within the larger Star Wars galaxy, The Mandalorian was initially envisioned as a small-scale, episodic TV series. In this way, the project offered something unique for both of the primary creatives involved. For Favreau, a highly successful writer and director in his own right, it would serve as an introduction to Star Wars storytelling. And for Filoni, a longtime veteran of Star Wars animation, it would serve as an introduction to live-action filmmaking.
The resulting collaboration wound up ballooning to insane heights, both in terms of artistic ambition and success. The Mandalorian quickly became a breakout on the then-nascent Disney+ streaming platform, resulting in bigger budgets and access to more storied legacy characters in subsequent seasons, such as Boba Fett and Luke Skywalker. Now, all of that success is coming to a head, as the series makes the jump to the big screen, in the form of The Mandalorian and Grogu. However, somewhat notably, Jon Favreau seemed to be tackling this project on his own, as the sole credited director. But as it turns out, as revealed in a recent Empire piece, Dave Filoni actually directed some of The Mandalorian and Grogu.
This is notable because, initially, it looked as though The Mandalorian and Grogu stood a real chance of stealing the thunder of the previously planned ‘Mando-verse’ crossover film project that Dave Filoni was working on. Years ago, at Star Wars Celebration back in 2023, Lucasfilm satiated fans with a slathering of new info about what their cinematic plans were moving forward. After several years of exclusively sticking to streaming content after the dismal misfire that was The Rise of Skywalker in 2019, plans were announced to return to the big screen in a big way, with three different films officially announced.
One was a Daisy Ridley-starring, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy-directed Rey movie, tentatively referred to as The New Jedi Order. One was a James Mangold-directed distant prequel that would chronicle the origins of the Jedi, tentatively referred to as The Dawn of the Jedi. And the final one was a Dave Filoni-directed film that was set to serve as a culmination of sorts of many of the Disney+ streaming series’, including The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and Skeleton Crew. All seemed well enough at the time, as this final film project was pitched as a coming-out-of-his-shell moment for Filoni, serving as a live-action feature film debut for the director.
Unexpectedly though, in early 2024, months after that slew of announced movies, it was suddenly announced that The Mandalorian would not be moving forward with a fourth season and would instead be fast-tracking development of a feature film, to be directed by Favreau. This seemed incredibly strange, given that Filoni’s already announced movie was essentially a feature-film culmination for The Mandalorian, but was apparently being put on the backburner for this brand new project from his longtime collaborator.
The fact that it has now been revealed so late in the game, just months prior to the release of the film, that Filoni actually was involved in The Mandalorian and Grogu, directing its second unit, strikes me as exceedingly odd. Given that Filoni was also recently announced as a co-head of Lucasfilm in general, it wouldn’t surprise me much to find out this is a post hoc, late-in-the-game addition meant to smooth over any turbulence between Favreau and Filoni.
The Mandalorian and Grogu premieres in theaters on May 22.