Hollywood is currently on strike, and with no end in sight, studios are being forced to get creative. Without writers and actors, they can’t do much, but with massive release date delays now inevitable, something has got to give.
According to Making Star Wars, one of the plans currently being discussed within Disney and Lucasfilm is for The Mandalorian season 4 to become a movie.
With theatrical releases a priority for the studio over streaming and the clock ticking, there are concerns Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni will be unable to make the required two seasons of television needed to lead into the latter’s Star Wars movie. The other show is Ahsoka season 2, though it’s currently unclear what the plan for that series is.
Going back to The Mandalorian, and discussions are currently said to be centred around whether the eight episodes already written can be condensed into a single film.
If it happens, the movie would be released after the planned Rey project starring Daisy Ridley, and before Filoni’s take on "Heir to the Empire." As much as we'd love to see The Mandalorian’s fourth season, this means Filoni would be able to tell his story across two theatrical releases, the first of which would revolve around Din Djarin (the report isn’t 100% clear but it seems Filoni would helm both, with back-to-back releases across two years).
The site adds, "If the WGA strike lasts into 2024, which right now seems likely, this plan could come to fruition and seems to the leading preference on the table. I heard this from one of my most solid sources ever and I have had it authenticated by other trusted sources and colleagues."
Disney CEO Bob Iger has confirmed he’s looking to scale back the number of Star Wars and Marvel projects on Disney+, so The Mandalorian becoming a big screen franchise makes sense. The property is now firmly established and after what many argued was a bloated third season, plenty of fans will welcome a two-hour movie in place of eight more episodes.
Nothing is confirmed yet, but you’ll want to keep checking back here for updates.