The newest film within the Star Wars Universe, centers not on a Skywalker but on Din Djarin and his apprentice Grogu. Based on the program The Mandalorian, which has aired on Disney+ since 2019 over three season and eighteen episodes, Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu offers an entertaining, and often thrilling experience, that Star Wars fans have been yearning to see for some time now.
Set after the events of the third season of the show, the film begins showing the aftermath of the fall of the Empire. The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu are currently employed by the New Republic to assist with keeping law and order secure within the now turbulent galaxy.
Along the way, both the Mandalorian and Grogu interact with a variety of characters and work their way through a series of mini-adventures as they essentially move through a fourth season of the show truncated into just over two hours of running time. What is most pleasing is how well the world building is handled within the film. Nothing feels overexplained or unnecessarily bogged down with exposition. Everything unfolds organically and in service to the overall story.
Jon Favreau – who served as the showrunner and executive producer of The Mandalorian television program – returns to both direct and co-write the property’s jump to the big screen. As he did with films like Iron Man (2008), Chef (2014), and The Lion King (2019), director Favreau brings kinetic energy to the film while simultaneously allowing the interaction between characters to do most of the heavy lifting for the narrative.
Along with co-writers Dave Filoni and Noah Koor (both of whom had worked with him on The Mandalorian), Favreau treats the film as a sort of existential elongation of the Star Wars saga while still keeping it relatively confined within the space of its current property. This allows the film to fit quite nicely into the whole of the universe without too much effort.
While Pedro Pascal highlights the film as the Mandalorian, the character of Grogu perhaps undergoes the more substantial growth throughout the film. Along with notable work from the likes of Sigourney Weaver as Ward (who serves as the Mandalorian’s point of contact with the Rebellion), everyone involved delivers near perfect performances throughout the film. The heroes are archetypal heroes and the villains, well, they’re more than easy to root against. It all harkens back to the early days of the Star Wars phenomenon when things weren’t as grey as they are perhaps today.
The Mandalorian and Grogu in Lucasfilm’s THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU. Photo courtesy of Lucasfilm. © 2026 Lucasfilm Ltd™. All Rights Reserved.
Overall, the film looks as good as any Star Wars film has. The cinematography provided by David Klein feels at home with the best of the films in the series and every aspect of the production seems as though it were put together as a labor of love to not only the show it continues, but the films it honors as well.
After a few missteps, the cinematic path of the Star Wars universe moving forward seems to have been corrected by The Mandalorian and Grogu. The film returns the universe to the swash-buckling thrills of its earliest entries and appears to promise a rewarding future for fans.
WHERE TO WATCH: (powered by JustWatch)
| Producer: | Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy, Ian Bryce |
| Release Date: | May 22, 2026 |
| Running Time: | 132 minutes |
| Starring: | Pedro Pascal, Sigourney Weaver, Jeremy Allen White, Jonathan Coyne |
| Writer: | Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni |
| MPAA Rating: | PG-13 (for sci-fi violence and action) |
| Director: | Jon Favreau |
| Distributor: | Walt Disney Pictures |
| External Info: | Official Website |
