Star Wars has always loved stealing from the best genres, giving them a blaster, and pretending everything was invented somewhere near the Outer Rim.
Western? That became The Mandalorian. Samurai cinema? That has been in Star Wars’ bones since 1977. World War II dogfights? Just add X-wings.
Now The Mandalorian & Grogu appears to be reaching for another very tasty influence: Prohibition-era gangster cinema.
According to Polygon’s report on the new Star Wars planet Shakari, the upcoming movie will introduce a new world inspired by 1920s Chicago. Yes, Star Wars is getting a mobster planet. Somewhere, a Hutt is absolutely considering a pinstripe suit.
Welcome to Shakari
The new planet is called Shakari, and production designer Andrew L. Jones reportedly described it as being influenced by Prohibition-era Chicago.
That is a wonderfully odd direction for a Star Wars location — and exactly the kind of thing the galaxy could use more of. We have had desert crime, palace crime, casino crime, neon crime, and whatever health-and-safety disaster Jabba was running on Tatooine. But a city-world with old-school gangster atmosphere? That feels fresh.
Shakari is described as dark, rainy, and crime-heavy, which gives it a very different flavor from the usual dusty settlements and polished New Republic corridors. It sounds less like somewhere democracy is being rebuilt, and more like somewhere Din Djarin walks into a back room, says three words, and ruins twelve criminals’ evening.
Star Wars, But Make It Mobster
The most interesting design detail is the weaponry. Polygon notes that the team created a blaster inspired by the silhouette of a Tommy gun, tying the planet’s look directly to its gangster-era influence.
That is classic Star Wars design logic. Take something familiar from real-world history, twist it through a sci-fi filter, and suddenly it feels like it has always belonged in the galaxy. The original trilogy did this with samurai armor, World War II aerial combat, and old gunslinger standoffs. Shakari seems to be playing the same trick — just with more rain, more crime, and probably fewer honest accountants.
It also fits what Lucasfilm has already shown. In StarWars.com’s trailer coverage for The Mandalorian & Grogu, the movie is framed around Din Djarin and Grogu helping the New Republic deal with Imperial war criminals, bounty hunters, Hutts, and the general leftover trash fire of the post-Empire galaxy.
Basically: the Empire may be gone, but the galaxy is still very much on fire. Just with better lighting.
The Scorsese Ingredient
And then there is Martin Scorsese.
Yes, that Martin Scorsese.
StarWars.com’s earlier trailer breakdown confirmed that Scorsese voices an Ardennian fry cook in the film. That already sounded like one of those sentences generated by throwing darts at a Lucasfilm whiteboard, but next to Shakari’s gangster influence, it becomes even funnier.
A mob-inspired Star Wars planet. A Tommy gun-style blaster. Hutts. Din Djarin. Grogu. Martin Scorsese as a four-armed alien food vendor.
That is either completely ridiculous or secretly brilliant. Star Wars has always done some of its best work in the gap between those two things.
A Big-Screen Mando Needs Big-Screen Flavor
The important thing about Shakari is that it gives The Mandalorian & Grogu something it needs: a sense that this is not just “season four, but louder.”
A theatrical Star Wars movie needs scale, but scale does not only mean bigger explosions or more ships. Sometimes it means giving the audience a location with a strong visual identity — somewhere that feels alive before anyone even fires a blaster.
Shakari could do exactly that.
For Din Djarin, it also makes perfect sense. He started as a bounty hunter working the edges of the galaxy, dealing with criminals, warlords, smugglers, and people who generally should not be trusted with a cantina tab. Dropping him into a gangster-style city-world feels like a natural extension of that world.
Din has always been part knight, part gunslinger. Now he may be getting pulled into Star Wars noir.
And Grogu? Grogu will presumably be there too, quietly turning organized crime into disorganized crime.
The Galaxy Gets a Little Dirtier
The best Star Wars planets are never just backdrops. They have mood. They have rules. They have people you should absolutely not borrow credits from.
Shakari already sounds like it has all three.
If the movie uses it properly, this could become one of the more memorable new Star Wars locations in recent years — not because it is bigger than everything else, but because it has a clear personality. Rain, crime, gangster energy, and a Mandalorian with famously limited patience.
That is a pretty strong elevator pitch.
The Mandalorian & Grogu opens exclusively in theaters on May 22, 2026. And if this movie really gives us Din Djarin cleaning up a mob planet while Grogu causes tiny green chaos in the background, then Star Wars may have found a very stylish new lane.
For more deep dives into the galaxy’s gaming side, our complete list of all Star Wars games ever made remains a dangerously easy place to lose an afternoon.
