Fortnite is not just borrowing Star Wars costumes anymore. It is starting to look like one of the places where Star Wars tests what the franchise can become next. With The Mandalorian and Grogu now tied directly into Fortnite through a dedicated Watch Party Island, quests, rewards, and a full Nevarro-inspired experience, Lucasfilm and Epic Games are doing more than tossing Din Djarin into the Item Shop and calling it a day. According to StarWars.com, the Watch Party Island gave players a special message from Jon Favreau and a 10-minute sneak peek of The Mandalorian and Grogu ahead of the film’s theatrical release. That alone is unusual enough. But Favreau’s comments to GamesRadar make the whole thing more interesting. He called the collaboration “a very first step” toward what he sees becoming a much larger project. That sounds less like a one-off promo and more like Lucasfilm quietly opening a…
Jon Favreau
The Mandalorian and Grogu Reviews Are Already Split
The Mandalorian and Grogu was supposed to be Star Wars’ cleanest route back to theaters. Early reviews suggest the landing may be bumpier than Lucasfilm hoped. As reviews began rolling in, the film’s Rotten Tomatoes score hovered around the danger zone — initially circulating around 58%, then moving into the low 60s as more critics were added. The Hollywood Reporter noted that the movie was sitting around 64% positive, just above the “Fresh” cutoff, while Radio Times reported 63% based on 68 reviews at the time of writing. So no, this is not a critical disaster. But it is definitely not the triumphant, everyone-agrees Star Wars comeback either. A Movie Sitting on the Fence The interesting part is not the exact percentage. Rotten Tomatoes scores move, especially on review day. The story is the split. Some critics seem to appreciate The Mandalorian and Grogu as a fun, straightforward Star Wars…
Jon Favreau Has Big Plans for Grogu After The Mandalorian and Grogu
Grogu is not just getting a movie. He may be getting a future. Jon Favreau has revealed that he has “a lot of plans” for Grogu creatively after The Mandalorian and Grogu, and the reason is very simple: this little green chaos child is not built for a one-movie arc. His species lives for centuries. His training is weird. His identity is split between two of Star Wars’ most myth-heavy traditions. In a new GamesRadar / Total Film interview, Favreau said Grogu is “on a path to be both a Jedi and a Mandalorian,” while also making choices and growing under a strong teacher. That is a very small sentence carrying a very large amount of future merchandise. And story. Mostly story. Grogu Is Built for the Long Game The most interesting part of Favreau’s comments is not just that he wants more Grogu stories. Of course he does. Lucasfilm…
Dave Filoni Says Star Wars Has a Plan — Just Not a Spreadsheet
Dave Filoni is not promising a Star Wars assembly line. Good. We have enough factories in this galaxy already. In a new Collider interview, Filoni was asked about the future of Star Wars under his creative leadership, and his answer was less “here are 14 release dates and a logo wall” and more “there is an architecture, but the stories come first.” That may sound vague if you are looking for a Marvel-style phase chart. But for Star Wars, it is probably the healthier answer. The Future Is Being Architected Filoni said he is currently “looking at the stories and the potential” while planning what he would like to do. He also said he believes in having “an overarching idea” before figuring out how many projects fit into that shape. The key part is not just that Star Wars has a broader plan. It is that Filoni is trying to…
Fortnite Is About to Become a Mando and Grogu Screening Room
Star Wars marketing has officially entered its “meet me in Fortnite for the movie preview” era. On May 19 at 10 a.m. ET, Fortnite players will be able to enter The Mandalorian and Grogu Watch Party Island, a Nevarro-inspired experience created by Fairview Portals and Beyond Creative. According to StarWars.com, the island will feature a special message from director Jon Favreau and an exclusive look at a 10-minute sneak peek of The Mandalorian and Grogu ahead of the film’s theatrical release on May 22, 2026. That is not just another skin drop. That is Star Wars using Fortnite as a digital lobby before the cinema doors open. Nevarro, Grogu, and a Very Modern Movie Preview The Watch Party Island is set on Nevarro, which makes sense. If The Mandalorian has a home base beyond “somewhere dangerous,” Nevarro is probably it. Players will be able to explore the location, step into…
Jon Favreau Almost Gave The Mandalorian Its Own Holiday Special
Somewhere in a better, weirder timeline, The Mandalorian got its own holiday special and Peli Motto was apparently essential to the operation. In a new ComicBook interview promoting The Mandalorian and Grogu, Jon Favreau revealed that he once kicked around the idea of doing a new Star Wars Holiday Special built around Din Djarin’s corner of the galaxy. And yes, he even dropped one beautifully specific detail: “I don’t know how you would do it without Peli Moto,” referring to Amy Sedaris’ gloriously chaotic Tatooine mechanic. Honestly? He may be right. This Was Apparently a Real Early Idea Favreau said the idea came up back in the first season, before The Mandalorian had even aired. He was also careful to cool expectations immediately, saying there are no plans for a live-action holiday special and that it was something they “jokingly talked about.” But this does not sound like a random…
The Mandalorian and Grogu Premiere Makes Star Wars Feel Like a Movie Again
For the last several years, live-action Star Wars has mostly felt like something you watched at home while wondering if you still had time to squeeze in one more episode before bed. Now the red carpet is back. The Mandalorian and Grogu has held its Los Angeles premiere, with Pedro Pascal, Sigourney Weaver, Ming-Na Wen, Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, and more turning up for the kind of glossy Hollywood rollout Star Wars has not had in a very long time. Page Six and Just Jared both covered the L.A. event, which turned the film’s final marketing stretch into something that looked less like another Disney+ chapter and more like a proper theatrical moment. And honestly, that matters. Star Wars Has Been Living on the Couch Since The Rise of Skywalker in 2019, live-action Star Wars has mostly belonged to Disney+. That era gave us plenty: The Mandalorian, Andor, Ahsoka, Obi-Wan…
Grogu’s Jedi Path Is Getting Weirder, and That’s Good
Grogu is not becoming a normal Jedi. Thank the Force for that. The little green chaos goblin at the heart of The Mandalorian and Grogu may still meditate, use the Force, and make everyone in a ten-mile radius emotionally vulnerable. But Jon Favreau is making it increasingly clear that Grogu’s future is not simply “tiny Luke Skywalker, but with better ears.” In a new Total Film interview, reported by GamesRadar, Favreau says Grogu is “not on the typical Jedi path of a youngling,” even though he has trained with some remarkable teachers. That includes Luke Skywalker, his time at the Jedi Temple, and possibly Yoda before everything in the galaxy became Order 66-shaped misery. That matters because The Mandalorian and Grogu is not just about a kid with powers anymore. It is about what happens when a Force-sensitive child is raised outside the usual Jedi system — by a Mandalorian…
The Mandalorian and Grogu Is Trying Not to Be Homework
Star Wars is heading back to theaters, and Jon Favreau seems very aware of one dangerous trap: making the audience feel like they need to revise for an exam first. The Mandalorian and Grogu arrives in cinemas on May 22, 2026, marking the franchise’s first big-screen release since The Rise of Skywalker. But while the movie grew out of plans for The Mandalorian Season 4, Favreau is now framing it as something more self-contained — a film that still fits the wider Mando-era story, but does not require every viewer to arrive carrying a Disney+ viewing spreadsheet. In a new Total Film interview, reported by GamesRadar, Favreau says Dave Filoni remains “closely in step” with the movie, even though the shift from streaming season to theatrical release changed the shape of the story. That distinction matters. A Movie Cannot Feel Like Episode 25 Television can be dense. It can reward…
The Mandalorian & Grogu Had to Stop Being Season 4
Jon Favreau may have just explained the most important creative choice behind The Mandalorian and Grogu. The upcoming Star Wars movie did not simply become “Season 4, but longer.” According to Favreau, the story originally tied more directly into what had come before — and what was still coming next — but the film had to become more self-contained so new viewers could actually walk into a theater without needing a Disney+ homework binder. Speaking with GamesRadar, Favreau said the movie still connects to the larger Mando-era story, but in a way that is more approachable for audiences who may not have followed every thread from The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Ahsoka. That is not just smart. It is probably necessary. Star Wars Cannot Return to Theaters With Homework The Mandalorian and Grogu is not a normal Star Wars release. It is the franchise’s big theatrical return…
Kathleen Kennedy Says Jon Favreau Is Pushing Star Wars Forward Like George Lucas Did
Kathleen Kennedy has made a big comparison — and yes, Star Wars fandom will almost certainly discuss it calmly, politely, and with no dramatic overreactions whatsoever. Speaking about Jon Favreau and The Mandalorian and Grogu, Kennedy compared Favreau’s approach to innovation with the way George Lucas pushed filmmaking technology forward. In a new GamesRadar+ report, Kennedy praised Favreau for taking technology and cinema “into the next level,” saying that spirit reminds her of what Lucas did. That is not a small compliment. In Star Wars terms, that is basically handing someone the keys to the digital toolbox and saying, “Try not to break cinema.” Favreau’s Star Wars Has Always Been Tech-Driven The comparison makes sense when you look at what The Mandalorian actually did for modern production. Favreau helped bring StageCraft and the Volume into the mainstream conversation, using large LED environments to blend real-time digital backgrounds with live-action filming….
Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni Are About to Talk MandoVerse Future
The future of the MandoVerse is apparently about to become a very real conversation. Jon Favreau says he plans to sit down with Dave Filoni next week to discuss what comes after Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu. That does not mean a new movie, show, or fourth season has been announced. But it does mean the two main architects of this corner of Star Wars are preparing to talk next steps — and that is enough to make the rumor engines start coughing smoke. Speaking during a roundtable attended by MeriStation, Favreau said he is currently focused on promoting The Mandalorian & Grogu, while Filoni is busy working on Ahsoka. But once they are both back in the United States, the two will reconnect and discuss the future. MeriStation quotes Favreau as saying that after they meet next week, “we’ll sit down and talk.” The Movie Was Not Always…
Guillermo del Toro Quietly Helped Shape the Hutts in The Mandalorian & Grogu
Guillermo del Toro did not direct a Star Wars movie. He did not get to make his long-rumored Jabba the Hutt film. But somehow, beautifully, he still ended up near the Hutts. Jon Favreau has revealed that del Toro receives an acknowledgment credit in The Mandalorian & Grogu after giving creative suggestions about the Hutts featured in the film. In an interview with Vandal, Favreau explained that del Toro had spent a lot of time thinking about Hutts because of his own abandoned Jabba project, and that he shared ideas with the Mandalorian & Grogu team. The Hutt Expert Star Wars Almost Used This is one of those behind-the-scenes details that feels small at first, then immediately gets more interesting the longer you stare at it. Del Toro has history with Hutt material. Back in 2023, The Hollywood Reporter reported that the filmmaker confirmed he had worked on a now-scrapped…
Fortnite Is Hosting a Mandalorian & Grogu Watch Party Island
Fortnite is no longer just the place where Star Wars characters show up, swing lightsabers, and make Darth Vader do things no Sith Lord should ever do in public. Now it is becoming a movie preview venue. Epic Games and Lucasfilm are launching The Mandalorian and Grogu Watch Party Island inside Fortnite on May 19 at 10 a.m. ET, giving players an exclusive early look at 10 minutes of footage from Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu before the film hits theaters on May 22, 2026. The island will also include a special message from director Jon Favreau. Welcome to Nevarro, Fortnite Edition The Watch Party Island is set on Nevarro, which is exactly the right choice. It is already one of The Mandalorian’s most recognizable hubs: dusty streets, bounty jobs, shady corners, and the kind of town where someone is always either asking for help or making things worse….
Gina Carano Says She Spoke With Favreau and Filoni After Lawsuit Settlement
Gina Carano is back in the Star Wars conversation — though not, at least officially, back in Star Wars. The former The Mandalorian actor has revealed that she spoke with Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni after her lawsuit with Disney and Lucasfilm was settled. In a new Entertainment Weekly report on Carano’s Mandalorian comments, she described the January Zoom call as a “let’s touch base” conversation and said it was important for her to “mend whatever” and make sure everyone was good. Cara Dune Is Not Confirmed to Return Before anyone fires up the rumor engines at full power: there is no official announcement that Cara Dune is returning. Carano played Cara Dune in the first two seasons of The Mandalorian, before Lucasfilm cut ties with her in 2021 after controversial social media posts. Disney and Lucasfilm later settled her lawsuit, and Entertainment Weekly notes that Lucasfilm’s settlement statement said…
The Mandalorian & Grogu Finally Lets Pedro Pascal Fight Helmet-Off
Din Djarin taking his helmet off is not exactly a casual Tuesday in The Mandalorian. It usually means vows, trauma, emotional breakthroughs, or Grogu looking at him with those enormous “please ruin the internet” eyes. But in The Mandalorian & Grogu, it sounds like Pedro Pascal is not just getting helmet-off drama. He is getting helmet-off action. During recent press for the movie, Jon Favreau revealed that Pascal filmed “great set-pieces” with his helmet off, adding that the team leaned into Pascal’s physicality for some very specific reasons. As Favreau put it, Pascal was a competitive swimmer, so they got him in the water — and after seeing his combat work in Gladiator II, they also had him fighting without the helmet. Vis dette opslag på Instagram Et opslag delt af Omelete (@omelete) Din Djarin, But More Pedro This Time That is a pretty big shift for a character built…
Shakari Gives The Mandalorian & Grogu a Gangster Planet
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…
Gina Carano Says She Has Spoken With Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni After Settlement
The Gina Carano story is not over yet, even if the legal fight is. After settling her lawsuit with Disney and Lucasfilm in August 2025, Carano says she has already spoken with both Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni. The detail comes from Carano’s appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, later picked up by multiple outlets, where she described a post-settlement Zoom call with the two Mandalorian creatives as warm and surprisingly natural. According to Carano, the conversation did not sound tense at all. As quoted by CinemaBlend’s write-up of the interview, she said, “I’ve already had a conversation with Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau,” describing both as “really lovely,” and said the call happened after the lawsuit was settled. She also recalled Favreau joking, “So, where did we leave off?” That is the headline. The more complicated part is what it actually means. The lawsuit is over, but a return…
Jon Favreau Used Apple Vision Pro to Build Mandalorian & Grogu for IMAX
Jon Favreau has revealed one of the stranger and more interesting bits of tech behind The Mandalorian & Grogu: he used Apple Vision Pro to preview how the movie’s IMAX shots would actually look in a theater-sized frame. In an interview clip highlighted by multiple outlets, Favreau said they built software so he could put on the headset, sit in a virtual IMAX auditorium, and view the full aspect ratio while lining up shots. That is a pretty smart solution to a very real movie problem. Favreau’s explanation was simple: if you are making an IMAX movie, watching footage on a normal monitor is not the same thing as seeing what audiences will actually get on a giant screen. He said the team layered custom software on top of Apple Vision Pro so he could review takes as if he were already in an IMAX theater, then judge framing based…
Martin Scorsese’s Mandalorian & Grogu Cameo Is Very Real
Of all the names you might expect to pop up in a Star Wars movie, Martin Scorsese was probably not near the top of the list. But according to SFX magazine, via comments from director Jon Favreau, the legendary filmmaker really does have a cameo in The Mandalorian & Grogu, where he voices an alien shopkeeper seen in the film’s trailer. And honestly, that is already one of the strangest and best little details attached to this movie so far. Kathleen Kennedy made it happen Favreau says the cameo came together thanks to Kathleen Kennedy, who knew Scorsese personally and was able to reach out directly. According to Favreau, Kennedy “called him up,” Scorsese said yes, and Favreau then got to direct him himself. That alone is a pretty wild sentence in Star Wars terms. It is not every day you get one of cinema’s most famous directors stepping into…
The Mandalorian & Grogu and Ahsoka Season 2 Are Clearly Connecting
Lucasfilm may not have dropped a giant timeline chart on stage, but after Star Wars Celebration Japan, the direction feels pretty obvious: The Mandalorian & Grogu and Ahsoka Season 2 are not living in separate corners of the galaxy anymore. That is not a direct line from StarWars.com, but it is the clear read once you put the official Celebration coverage side by side. On the film side, StarWars.com’s official Celebration write-up confirms that The Mandalorian & Grogu hits theaters on May 22, 2026, and brings back Din, Grogu, Zeb Orrelios, and a new character played by Sigourney Weaver. The panel footage also included Din storming an AT-AT and mowing through snowtroopers, which makes it sound a lot bigger and more war-shaped than a simple side quest movie. Then came the Ahsoka panel. According to StarWars.com, Season 2 starts filming the following week, and the panel confirmed some very specific…
Grogu Just Took Over The Mandalorian and Grogu Promo Push
Lucasfilm’s latest The Mandalorian and Grogu video is not a trailer, not a TV spot, and not exactly a standard featurette either. Titled “Grogu Joins the Conversation,” the new promo leans hard into the movie’s safest marketing weapon: put Grogu in the room, let everyone else orbit around him, and watch the internet do the rest. Fantha Tracks describes the clip as Grogu sitting down with Pedro Pascal, Sigourney Weaver, and Jon Favreau to discuss the film, while StarWars.com is using the same video as a featured push for the movie. This Is Less About Plot and More About Vibe That is what makes the clip interesting. It is not really trying to reveal major new story details. Instead, it feels like Lucasfilm settling into the tone of the campaign and reminding people that The Mandalorian and Grogu is not just another Disney+ extension anymore. This is the big-screen version…
Mercedes Varnado Says Koska Reeves Wasn’t Originally in The Mandalorian Script
Some Star Wars characters arrive with years of canon behind them. Koska Reeves did not. According to a recently resurfaced behind-the-scenes comment from Mercedes Varnado, her The Mandalorian character was not originally in the script. She said Jon Favreau did not initially have a role for her, but later found a way to create one. Koska Reeves Was Created for the Series That detail makes Koska Reeves more interesting than ever, because she was not pulled from older Star Wars canon. When she debuted in Chapter 11, “The Heiress,” she was introduced as a brand-new Mandalorian character made for The Mandalorian, not an existing figure from The Clone Wars or Rebels. Why the Character Worked So Well What makes this reveal stand out is how natural Koska felt on screen. She showed up as part of Bo-Katan’s crew and immediately looked like she belonged in that world. There was no…
Exclusive Mandalorian and Grogu IMAX Footage Is Reportedly Playing in the UK, and It Sounds Like Lucasfilm Is Leaning Hard Into the Big-Screen Upgrade
One of the easiest ways to tell Lucasfilm knows The Mandalorian and Grogu needs to feel like a real movie is this: it apparently is not just pushing trailers anymore. According to Bespin Bulletin, an exclusive behind-the-scenes-style featurette has been playing at Odeon IMAX screenings in the UK over the last few days, giving audiences a little extra look at the film before its May 22, 2026 release. That alone is enough to make Star Wars fans perk up, because once studios start attaching exclusive footage to premium screens, they are not just selling a title — they are selling the idea that this thing belongs in theaters. The Reported Footage Sounds More Cinematic Than Routine Promo Filler Bespin Bulletin says the IMAX-exclusive material includes Din Djarin walking down a dark urban street at night, Din unmasked in a cave with water up to his neck, more shots of the…