There’s a scene in the new The Mandalorian and Grogu trailer that feels like a real snake eating it’s tail kind of moment. As audiences are given a clearer and lengthier look at a sequence that had previously been teased of the titular Mandalorian, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), facing off against Rotta the Hutt (Jeremy Allen White) and a gladiator-esque arena full of monsters, it becomes apparent that this is an action scene taking place on a literal full-size Dejarik (holographic chess) board. CreatorJon Favreau has long said that his approach to Star Wars storytelling is akin to playing with action figures, but this moment looks to take that to a new literal extreme. The Mandalorian and Grogu is taking what were once action figures in the original 1977 Star Wars and devoting an entire action setpiece to them.
This is more than a bit insane, and is indicative of a far larger problem: Jon Favreau’s version of Star Wars is entirely rooted in his own fervent nostalgia for the original trilogy, and if he is going to keep making Star Wars projects, he needs to grow beyond this.
Part of what makes this so mind-numbing is the sheer depths that Favreau has now gone to in an effort to seemingly elevate every single minute detail of the original 1977 film to marquee-level attractions. Nearly every character from the original Mos Eisley Cantina scene has now been featured on The Mandalorian at some point, the pole that Han Solo tried to use to stop the Death Star’s trash compactor was inexplicably an essential prop in The Book of Boba Fett, and the list goes on. But the thing about all of this is that in being so reverential about these peripheral details, Favreau inadvertently sucks all of the originality and fun out of those original films.
When I watch the original trilogy, details like the characters in the Cantina or the Dejarik board feel like hints toward a wider galaxy than audiences can comprehend, helping contribute a real sense of scale and scope to George Lucas’ vision. But in drudging through these ancillary details and painstakingly giving them backstories and exposition dumps, Favreau depletes them of any amount of awe or wonder.
In addition to this, it just makes for painfully dull modern Star Wars storytelling that feels shackled to the past in uncomfortable and frankly kind of embarrassing ways. Dejarik, in specific, has already had numerous callbacks over the course of the last decade of Star Wars stuff. The Force Awakens saw a whole bit devoted to J.J. Abrams restaging the Dejarik scene and allowing a different player to win. Solo: A Star Wars Story showed audiences Han seeing the Falcon’s Dejarik board in action for the first time. And now, years later, Jon Favreau expects audiences to salivate over the idea of seeing this thing again, but bigger this time? Even as a lifelong Star Wars fan whose email address is literally the name of a Star Wars character, I really struggle to see the appeal of that.
If Disney and Lucasfilm are going to remain adamant that these Favreau-penned stories are the future of Star Wars, then Favreau needs to grow beyond this nostalgia and sense of duty to fan-service. Because the well has truly run dry; after over a decade of Disney-produced Star Wars stuff, there is no more nostalgia to mine. Instead, Favreau is going to have to do something actually new and exciting, something that can stand on its own two feet. Here’s hoping against all odds that The Mandalorian and Grogu can be that.
The Mandalorian and Grogu premieres in theaters on May 22, 2026.