“Good shot, baby!”
One week after Star Wars won big at the 2025 Emmys with Andor’s five awards, Lucasfilm released the first official trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu, which arrives in theaters May 22, 2026.
If you’re looking for plot points, you won’t really get any of them from the trailer, which showcases loads of creatures, big action sequences and, of course, Grogu stealing snacks and scenes. We also get a brief glimpse of Sigourney Weaver’s character, a tease of Jeremy Allen White’s Rotta the Hutt and some shots of the all-new Razor Crest and a few scenes featuring the Anzellans – relatives of tiny droidsmith Babu Frik from The Rise of Skywalker.
It’s hard to describe the early hysteria over The Mandalorian when it emerged on Disney+ in 2019, but it was something Star Wars fans both devoted and casual rallied around in its first two seasons. As more Disney+ series emerged the “specialness” of new, weekly live-action Star Wars began to fade, and the third season did not quite make the cultural impact that the series once did. I personally feel that the dampened enthusiasm over The Mandalorian – and much Disney’s recent Star Wars output in general – is that it, like the MCU, started requiring casual audiences to do more homework. Star Wars on Disney+ wasn’t an episodic space western with a cute co-star anymore. It was a commitment.
In just a few months, Star Wars returns to theaters for the first time in seven years, and it will take much more than die-hard, devoted fans with lightsaber collections (i.e. people like me) to make an impact on the big screen considering the box-office landscape has changed dramatically since the pandemic. Is The Mandalorian and Grogu the right film to ensure the franchise is back on the big screen to stay? I’m not sure. I like what I see in the trailer and have faith in Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, but one could also argue that the film will just be an extended episode of the TV series. To me, that’s perfect and exactly what I’m looking for. But it remains to be seen whether lapsed fans flock to the theaters for this one, or if they’ll hold off until the stand-alone Star Wars: Starfighter arrives in 2027 – Star Wars’ 50th anniversary.
Watch the trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu below!
Views: 9