About a month before Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker premiered in theaters and ended the sequel trilogy, Disney+ launched. With the new streaming service came The Mandalorian, the first live-action Star Wars TV show. It didn’t take long for the series to become a global sensation, helped in large part by the popularity of Grogu aka “Baby Yoda.” Over the past seven years, a plethora of new Star Wars TV shows have been produced, but The Mandalorian was the flagship Disney+ original, running for three seasons. Now, Din Djarin and Grogu are ending the extended Star Wars movie hiatus with this summer’s The Mandalorian and Grogu.
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With the film arriving over Memorial Day weekend, most of Lucasfilm’s focus is on the present, as the studio is doing its part to promote The Mandalorian and Grogu and get fans excited to see if on the big screen. But as is the case with any major pop culture franchise, people can’t help but wonder what comes next. Here’s all we know about the future of Din Djarin and his adorable apprentice.
The Mandalorian Season 4 Became The Mandalorian and Grogu
Before The Mandalorian and Grogu came to fruition, the plan was to make The Mandalorian Season 4. Jon Favreau had scripts written and ready to go, but was forced to hit the pause button due to the dual Hollywood labor strikes in 2023. During that time, Lucasfilm re-evaluated its upcoming slate and, feeling it was time for Star Wars to return to theaters, approached Favreau about doing a Mandalorian movie instead. As a result, Favreau and Dave Filoni decided to scrap the original Season 4 scripts and write something new from scratch.
That was a necessary move due to the shift in medium. Rather than being the next season of a long-running TV show (where the target audience is familiar with what happened previously), the project became a major theatrical release attempting to appeal to die-hard fans and more casual moviegoers. Favreau wanted The Mandalorian and Grogu to work as a standalone story so that it was accessible to people who hadn’t watched the TV show.
Disney Is Unlikely To Return To The Mandalorian As A TV Show
Since The Mandalorian started life as a TV show before making the jump to theaters, some might be wondering if it could move back to the small screen once The Mandalorian and Grogu has had its moment in the spotlight. The odds of The Mandalorian Season 4 happening in any capacity are low. While it’s still possible until Lucasfilm comes out and says otherwise (though, it would arguably be strange to pivot back to TV after making Din Djarin and Grogu movie stars), Disney’s shifting priorities as a studio shed more light on the situation.
After flooding the marketplace with an abundance of Star Wars and Marvel streaming shows (at a pace that was unsustainable), the Mouse House appears to be taking a step back. Disney told Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy “streaming is dead,” an admission that the model was no longer working as intended (in part due to rising production budgets). There are still some Star Wars TV shows on the way, but it seems like it’s no longer a priority for Lucasfilm to keep churning out live-action series the way they were during the first half of the decade.
The Mandalorian & Grogu 2 Isn’t Directly Set Up, But Could Easily Happen
Because The Mandalorian and Grogu was conceived as a standalone film, the narrative it tells is self-contained. While that will probably be disappointing for those hoping for deeper connections to ongoing MandoVerse storylines happening on the TV shows, it was the best move for the film. If the goal was to make The Mandalorian and Grogu work as a movie for all audiences regardless of prior knowledge, it wouldn’t have made sense to lay the foundation for more things to come, as that potentially could be confusing for viewers unfamiliar with the TV shows.
Of course, The Mandalorian and Grogu‘s standalone nature doesn’t preclude a sequel from happening. Din Djarin and Grogu could easily embark on another mission for the New Republic. A Mandalorian film series could take on the format of the old Indiana Jones or James Bond movies, where each installment operated as its own standalone story. Whether or not this happens with The Mandalorian and Grogu depends on how it fares at the box office. Projections for opening weekend are on the low end for a Star Wars movie, but that could be offset by its effective production budget of $165 million. It doesn’t need to break the bank to be a commercial success.
What’s Next For Star Wars After The Mandalorian & Grogu?
As fans wait to see what comes next for Din Djarin and Grogu, there will still be plenty of other Star Wars content on the way. Lucasfilm may be slowing things down on the TV front, but the second seasons of both Maul – Shadow Lord and Ahsoka are on the way. The latter is slated to release on Disney+ in 2027. Interestingly, it is the last live-action Star Wars series officially on deck. No other new shows have been announced at this point in time.
With regard to the films, Star Wars: Starfighter is scheduled to premiere in May 2027, arriving in time to commemorate the franchise’s 50th anniversary. Directed by Shawn Levy, Starfighter has generated attention for its big-name cast that features the likes of Ryan Gosling and Amy Adams — a departure for Star Wars, but one that might be necessary to drum up more interest amongst casual audiences. There’s no shortage of more Star Wars films in various stages of development, but none have been added to the release calendar yet. Expect that to change during Star Wars Celebration 2027, where there will probably be some big announcements.
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