There hasn't been a Star Wars movie in theaters since 2019's The Rise of Skywalker. That might not seem like that big a deal — after all, 10 years passed between the end of the prequel trilogy, and the start of the sequel trilogy, and before that fans waited 19 years between Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace. But this is a new age where big franchises like Star Wars can't be allowed to go three minutes without putting something new to watch; just look at the rush of Star Wars on Disney+ if you don't believe me.
But next year, we will get a new Star Wars movie: The Mandaorian & Grogu, a big screen continuation of the TV show The Mandalorian. Is it wise for Disney to take a TV series and ask fans to come to the movie theater if they want to see what happens next? We'll find out, but the movie is coming on May 22, 2026.
In fact, according to Hollywood newshound Daniel Richtman, Disney may make a trilogy of movies about The Mandalorian & Grogu, but only if the first one pulls in a lot of money.
That sounds reasonable enough — of course a movie gets a sequel if it does well — but when it comes to Star Wars, I can't help but be wary, because this franchise has been plagued with poorly planned projects for a long time. To start, there's the network of movies that were announced but never made, including films with directors like Taika Waititi and Patty Jenkins, a movie developed by Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige, and whole trilogies from Rian Johnson and Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss; all of those were announced, and none of them went forward.
I also think of the Star Wars sequel trilogy itself, which famously wasn't planned out from the beginning, which accounts for why story direction seemed to change so markedly between The Force Awakens to The Last Jedi to The Rise of Skywalker. They just seem to fly by the seat of their pants over at Lucasfilm, which might work wonder when making a small indie film full of fresh ideas, but not so much when you're trying to create an interconnected cinematic universe.
So will The Mandalorian & Grogu actually become a movie trilogy? As ever with Star Wars, no one is certain of anything.
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h/t GameRant