Earlier today, we learned that Disney and Lucasfilm are moving forward with The Mandalorian & Grogu, a new theatrical film which promises to finally bring Din Djarin and The Child to theaters.
The House of Mouse needs a guaranteed box office hit and a Star Wars project like this surely fits the bill. Jon Favreau will direct but seeing as cameras were meant to begin rolling on season 4 this year (after he previously confirmed scripts for all eight episodes were written), there's been some confusion about the show's future.
After all, while The Mandalorian & Grogu is bound to do well on the big screen, The Mandalorian itself remains one of Disney+'s biggest draws.
In Variety's piece on the movie, the trade notes, "It is unclear where the upcoming film will fit into the timeline of the live-action series, which has aired three seasons and is currently in development on the fourth."
Deadline shared a similar update by saying, "It’s not yet been confirmed whether Pascal will reprise his role as the Mandalorian for the new film. At present, a fourth season of his hit series is also in development." So, season 4 is happening. We think.
Looking at Disney's release calendar, Lucasfilm currently has its next Star Wars movie scheduled for May 22, 2026. The next is December 18, 2026, while a third has been slotted in for December 17, 2027.
The press release made it clear The Mandalorian & Grogu will be first to reach theaters so we wouldn't be shocked if a late 2025 slot is found for it.
"Season 4, yeah, I've written it already," Favreau revealed last year. "We have to know where we're going to tell a fully formed story. We had mapped it out, Dave [Filoni] and I, and then slowly you start to write each episode."
Adding that he wrote season 4 while season 3 was in post-production so it would feel "like a continuation, and one full story," he also explained how the series ties into the other Star Wars TV coming to Disney+.
"To understand what's happening on other shows, or even Skeleton Crew, [they] all take place in the same Star Wars time period," Favreau continued. "So there's a lot more things that we have to to keep in mind, and stuff that we've built up to from previous seasons of The Mandalorian as well."
Based on these remarks, we find it hard to believe the filmmaker has scrapped season 4 and condensed it into a two-hour movie. With that in mind, we'd guess the show's next batch of episodes will indeed see the light of day either before or after The Mandalorian & Grogu.
Stay tuned for updates as we have them.