It's about time The Mandalorian and Grogu headed to the big screen – and it's the right move for Star Wars
Jan. 11, 2024Opinion | The Mando film is the perfect move for the Star Wars saga
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Star Wars is coming back to theaters with a bang.A Mandalorian and Grogu movie has been announced– and there’s simply no better way for the saga to make its return to the big screen.
It’s fairly surprising that it’s taken this long for Mando andGroguto make the jump to theatrical, then. My immediate reaction to the announcement – after a moment of sheer excitement – was: “It’s about time.” The saga has lived on the small screen since The Rise of Skywalker, but there’s no better project to kickstart a new era than one starring this beloved father-son duo, who’ve so swiftly carved out their permanent places not just in the massive Star Wars canon, but in the hearts of fans everywhere, too (no easy task, after all). They deserve to take their place amid Star Wars’s big screen heroes.
It’s Mando and Grogu’s status as Star Wars stalwarts that makes it so easy for this project to act as the connective thread running through the new theatrical slate, too. The duo are incredibly flexible characters with fascinating potential; their adventures have already seen them cross paths with the likes of Luke Skywalker, Boba Fett, andAhsoka Tano. We could very well see the Force-sensitive Grogu pop up in the Rey movie down the line, and it’d be a shock if Din Djarin and Baby Yodadidn’tappear in Dave Filoni’s movie that’s set to tie together theDisneyPlus shows.
As for the storytelling itself, there’s plenty of scope for the Mandalorian movie to explore. Season 3 shifted focus from Grogu’s Jedi journey to Mandalore, and it saw the warriors successfully reclaim their home planet – and the fabledMythosaurawake underwater. Din Djarin and Baby Yoda then settled on Nevarro together afterofficially becoming a family; the slate has essentially been wiped clean for brand-new adventures. That could involve picking up on the aftermath of theAhsoka finale, which saw the return ofGrand Admiral Thrawn(previously teased inThe Mandalorian season 3), or it could see Mando and the Child strike out on an entirely new mission.
If the Mandalorian movie is a totally standalone story, we already know that Din Djarin and Grogu can more than carry a compelling tale on their own. Many episodes across the show’s three seasons have been self-contained quests, which have seen everything from Mando taking on a Mudhorn to Grogu chowing down on poor Frog Lady’s eggs. These mini-adventures aresome of the most fun I’ve had watching the show– and a self-contained story that doesn’t rely too heavily on previous seasons of The Mandalorian or other Star Wars series makes a lot of sense for a theatrical debut, too. And, withThe Mandalorian season 4reportedlystill happening alongside the movie, we’ll be getting the best of both worlds anyway.
Star Wars returning to the big screen is very welcome news; as excellent as the Disney Plus shows are, there’s no denying that the saga’s theatrical legacy is an incredible one, and I personally can’t wait to make the pilgrimage back to the multiplex to revisit the galaxy far, far away. And, for that first trip back to the theater, there’s no one I’d rather see front and center than the Mandalorian and Grogu. This is the Way!
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I’m a Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site’s Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.
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