The Mandalorian & Grogu movie wraps production as Rey sequel movie loses steam

Star Wars has been in a weird place since The Rise of Skywalker completed the sequel trilogy back in 2019. On the big screen, Disney and Lucasfilm can't seem to get another project off the ground to save their life, with planned movies from Taika Waititi, Kevin Feige, Patty Jenkins, Rian Johnson and Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss all getting announced only to later be shelved. It's pretty embarassing to announce all these things only for all of them to fall through.

But on TV, the Star Wars universe has been popping. The Mandalorian, the first-ever live-action Star Wars TV show, debuted in 2019, the same year we last had a big screen outing, and has been going strong for three seasons now. And we've also gotten Ahsoka, The Book of Boba Fett, The Acolyte, Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi, not to mention animated series like The Bad Batch. If anything, there's been a bit too much Star Wars TV over the past five years.

Disney's plan now is to yoke these two worlds together. The next Star Wars movie is The Mandalorian & Grogu, a continuation of The Mandalorian. According to Puck, filming on The Mandalorian & Grogu is now finished, so it seems the movie is on target to hit its release date of May 22, 2026. At last, Lucasfilm will have another Star Wars movie in theaters!

That said, this news comes right as we learn that Steven Knight, the guy behind Peaky Blinders, has parted ways with a Star Wars movie he was going to write about what happens to Rey (Daisy Ridley) after the end of The Rise of Skywalker. That movie could come together yet, but given Disney's recent track record when it comes to Star Wars films, I'll believe it when I see it.

So maybe Lucasfilm can make a Star Wars movie, but only when it's based on a Star Wars TV show. I'm sure they're excited they finally have a movie project that will go, although it comes somewhat at the expense of fans who were enjoying The Mandalorian as a TV series and who now have to go to the theater to see what well could be the conclusion of this story; it's not certain, but it looks like Disney is making The Mandalorian & Grogu instead of The Mandalorian season 4. We'll see if that choice pays off soon enough.

As for what the film will be about, we imagine it'll pick up where The Mandalorian season 3 ended, with Grogu as the Mandalorian's official apprentice. The movie will also likely pick up on stories from some of the other Star Wars TV shows, like Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) returning to the galaxy far, far away to revive the Empire. It's the huge crossover event I'm sure someone somewhere asked for.

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h/t Collider