The Mandalorian and Grogu is still weeks away from theaters, but Disney is already using its most powerful Star Wars machine to warm up the crowd: Disney+. A new streaming push around Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu — A Special Look is already showing traction on the platform. According to FlixPatrol’s Disney+ chart for May 8, the special ranked among the top TV titles globally, sitting behind only The Testaments and Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord that day. Both ScreenRant and Collider have also noted the special’s early Disney+ momentum ahead of the movie’s theatrical release. That is exactly what Disney wants. Disney+ Is the Hype Engine Now If you are not sleeping under a rock, you already know that The Mandalorian and Grogu hits theaters on May 22, 2026. That is what makes Disney+ pushing the Special Look so interesting: the platform that turned Din Djarin and…
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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….
Pedro Pascal Wants to Keep Playing Din Djarin After The Mandalorian and Grogu
Pedro Pascal is not ready to hang up the helmet. Or, more accurately, he is not ready for everyone involved in wearing the helmet to hang it up. Speaking during a London Q&A attended by GamesRadar+, Pascal said he hopes to continue playing Din Djarin beyond The Mandalorian and Grogu, calling the role the longest creative relationship of his career. As he put it, he would like to keep going “for as long as my body, or as many bodies as we put into the suit, can take it,” according to GamesRadar+. That is a very Pedro Pascal way of saying: yes, the Mandalorian business may continue. Din Djarin Is No Short-Term Gig Anymore Pascal first stepped into the role when The Mandalorian premiered in 2019. Seven years later, Din Djarin has become one of modern Star Wars’ most recognizable characters — even though the show’s central joke remains that…
Star Wars Celebration 2027 Sold Out Fast — But Fans Are Not Happy About How It Happened
Star Wars Celebration 2027 is sold out. That part is official. The messier part is what happened on the way there. The official Star Wars Celebration ticket page now lists tickets as sold out for the Los Angeles event, which takes place April 1–4, 2027 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. That already made headlines, and we covered the sellout in our earlier piece on how Star Wars Celebration 2027 sold out ahead of the 50th anniversary year. But now the story has a second act: a lot of fans are not just disappointed they missed out. They are angry about the buying experience itself. The Queue Was Not With Everyone According to Gizmodo’s report on the ticket sale, many fans spent hours in the online queue only to come away empty-handed. That is the kind of convention heartbreak that hits differently when the event is tied to Star Wars’…
Maul: Shadow Lord’s Soundtrack Turns Pain Into Power
Maul was never going to sound gentle. But the new official feature on the music of Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord makes one thing very clear: this score is not just here to make the Sith Lord look cooler while he broods in red lighting. It is doing emotional damage. Professionally. In a new StarWars.com interview about the Maul: Shadow Lord soundtrack, composers Kevin Kiner, Sean Kiner, and Deana Kiner break down how they approached the sound of Maul, Devon Izara, and Detective Brander Lawson across the animated series. The full Season 1 soundtrack is also now available to stream, giving fans a cleaner way to hear just how nasty, distorted, and surprisingly emotional this thing gets. Maul, But Make It Heavy Metal One of the more interesting details is that Matt Michnovetz wrote many episodes while listening to metal bands like Iron Maiden, Queensrÿche, Tool, and Ratt. That…
Star Wars Celebration 2027 Has Already Sold Out
Well, that did not take long. Star Wars Celebration 2027 has officially sold out, with the event’s own ticket page now stating that tickets are no longer available. The convention is set to take place April 1–4, 2027, at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and it is already looking like one of the biggest Star Wars fan events in years. That should not be a huge surprise. Celebration 2027 is not just another convention stop. It lands during the franchise’s 50th anniversary year, with Star Wars heading back into a major theatrical moment, new shows and games in motion, and an extremely online fanbase that can apparently refresh ticket pages faster than a podracer with unpaid debts. A Sold-Out Celebration Before the Hype Really Starts The official Star Wars Celebration ticket page now says tickets are sold out, while the main Star Wars Celebration site thanks fans and tells them…
Star Wars Insider Is Over — And a Huge Piece of Fan History Goes With It
Before Star Wars news lived on YouTube thumbnails, Reddit threads, Discord servers, leaks accounts, and algorithmic chaos, there was Star Wars Insider. Now, after nearly four decades of official magazine history, that run has come to an end. The final issue, Star Wars Insider #237, is out now, closing a publication lineage that stretches back through Star Wars Insider, The Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine, and the old-school fan-club era when getting official Star Wars news meant waiting for paper to arrive like some kind of ancient Jedi ritual. It sounds dramatic because it is dramatic. For a lot of readers, Insider was not just a magazine. It was the magazine. The Final Issue Has Arrived Lucasfilm announced last year that Star Wars Insider would launch its final issue in 2026, with issue #237 marking the end of the magazine’s current run with Titan. At the time, editor Christopher Cooper described…
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…
Lucasfilm Says Fortnite Is Already Part of Star Wars’ Future
Fortnite is no longer just a place where Darth Vader shows up, gets hit with a pickaxe, and quietly questions the entire purpose of the Empire. Lucasfilm is now talking about it as something much bigger: a real part of the Star Wars storytelling ecosystem. In comments highlighted by Lucasfilm executive James Waugh, Senior Vice President of Franchise Story and Creative Strategy, Star Wars gaming and user-generated content are not being treated as side dishes anymore. Waugh said he does not see this as merely “part of the future” of the franchise, but as “a vital part of the storytelling ecosystem today,” adding that Star Wars gaming expressions have always been fundamental to the franchise’s success. His comments were shared alongside an IGN interview about Lucasfilm’s UGC strategy and Fortnite’s growing role in Star Wars. James Waugh’s LinkedIn post This Is Bigger Than Another Skin Drop That framing matters because…
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…
Andor Just Won a BAFTA for Making Star Wars Feel Real
Andor has picked up another very deserved trophy — and this one goes straight to the people who made the galaxy feel heavy, dirty, dangerous, and beautifully expensive in all the right places. The series won Special, Visual and Graphic Effects at the 2026 BAFTA Television Craft Awards, with BAFTA naming Mohen Leo, TJ Falls, Luke Murphy, Neal Scanlan, Jean-Clément Soret, and Industrial Light & Magic as the winning team for Andor. The result is listed on BAFTA’s official Special, Visual and Graphic Effects award page. The Invisible Work That Made Andor Hit Harder This is the kind of award that fits Andor perfectly, because the show’s effects work was never about shouting, “Look, expensive pixels!” It was about texture. Imperial facilities looked cold and cruel. Ferrix felt lived-in, worn down, and politically tense. Spacecraft had weight. Cities had systems. Prisons felt industrial rather than fantastical. Even when Andor went…
Star Wars: Starfighter Finds Its Mandalorian Editor
Star Wars: Starfighter has quietly added another important piece behind the scenes — and this one comes with some very familiar Star Wars mileage. According to Adam Gerstel’s résumé at Independent Artist Group, Gerstel is listed as the editor of Star Wars: Starfighter, the upcoming Lucasfilm movie directed by Shawn Levy. Not the loudest piece of casting news in the galaxy, sure. But editing is where a Star Wars movie either flies like an X-wing or crashes into a committee meeting with expensive lighting. A Familiar Name From The Mandalorian Gerstel is not new to Star Wars. As noted by Bespin Bulletin’s report on Gerstel joining Starfighter, he previously edited The Mandalorian Season 2 episodes “Chapter 9: The Marshal” and “Chapter 16: The Rescue.” That is a pretty interesting pair of credits. “The Marshal” helped launch Season 2 with Cobb Vanth, Tusken Raiders, a krayt dragon, and the kind of…
The Mandalorian & Grogu Is Now Tracking for a Potential $100M Opening
The box office story around The Mandalorian & Grogu just got a little more interesting. After some earlier softer-looking chatter around the film’s commercial prospects, Boxoffice Pro’s latest long-range forecast now says the movie could open in the $90 million to $100 million range domestically when it hits theaters on May 22, 2026. That would be a meaningful shift in tone around the film’s launch outlook, even if the upper end still would not put it near the biggest modern Star Wars openings. That is the key thing here: this is better, but it is not suddenly a “Star Wars is back to automatic $150M openings” story. Better than the gloomier narrative According to Boxoffice Pro’s long-range forecast, a $100 million opening would still rank as the lowest Star Wars debut since Solo: A Star Wars Story, which opened to $84.4 million in 2018. The same report notes that The…
Andor Season 2 Has Now Won a Peabody Award
Andor Season 2 is no longer just a nominee. It is now officially a Peabody Award winner, giving Lucasfilm’s most prestige-coded Star Wars series another serious trophy on the shelf. The 86th Peabody winners were announced by the Peabody Awards, and Andor (Season 2) appears among this year’s winners in Entertainment. That makes this a pretty big follow-up to the earlier nomination story. This is not Andor’s first Peabody win What makes the update even stronger is that this is not the first time Andor has pulled this off. The Peabody Awards previously honored the series at the 83rd Annual Peabody Awards for its first season, which means the show has now won Peabody recognition twice. Jedi News also noted that Season 1 had already won a Peabody, making this latest result feel less like a fluke and more like a pattern. And honestly, that feels extremely on-brand for Andor….
Shawn Levy Says Star Wars: Starfighter Is Now in the Edit Room
Star Wars: Starfighter has moved into a very important phase of production: the part where the footage stops being potential and starts becoming an actual movie. Speaking to Variety at the Breakthrough Prize Ceremony, director Shawn Levy said he is currently editing the film, describing himself as being in the “beautiful sanctity of the edit room” while shaping the movie ahead of its 2027 release. As Levy put it, “We don’t come out until next year,” adding that he is in the “dark quiet of the edit room finding the best possible shape for the film.” The quote comes from Variety’s recent interview with Levy. That is not exactly a flashy reveal, but it is the kind of update that makes the project feel more real. Earlier official coverage from StarWars.com’s original announcement of Star Wars: Starfighter confirmed that the film stars Ryan Gosling, is directed by Shawn Levy, and…
The Mandalorian & Grogu May the 4th IMAX Previews Have Already Sold Out
That did not take long. The special-look IMAX fan events for The Mandalorian & Grogu on May the 4th are now officially sold out, according to Star Wars’ own social posts announcing the sellout. The events were set up as free advance screenings at select IMAX theaters around the world, giving fans an early look at more than 25 minutes of footage from the movie ahead of its full theatrical release. And honestly, that is a pretty strong signal. Fans moved fast on this one Lucasfilm and IMAX only just started pushing the event publicly, with trade coverage confirming that the May 4 screenings would include more than 25 minutes of exclusive footage, special fan giveaways, and a new poster at select locations. Boxoffice Pro reported the event on April 23, framing it as a global May the 4th fan push tied directly to the movie’s theatrical rollout. Now the…
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…
The Acolyte Has Quietly Reappeared on Disney+’s Top 10
For a show that was supposed to be yesterday’s argument, The Acolyte has suddenly popped back into the conversation again. According to FlixPatrol’s Disney+ charts, The Acolyte re-entered the platform’s Top 10 TV Shows list in the No. 9 spot in the United States this week. That puts it back on the board well after its original release cycle, and well after most people assumed its streaming-chart life was over. That alone makes it a mildly surprising little Star Wars story. It is not topping the charts — but it is back To be clear, this is not The Acolyte suddenly becoming the biggest thing on Disney+. FlixPatrol’s current U.S. chart still has Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord near the top, along with titles like Daredevil: Born Again and several other Disney+ regulars. But The Acolyte showing up at No. 9 is still notable, because it means enough viewers…
Andor Season 2 Lands a Hugo Nomination — and It’s the Only TV Series in Its Category
Andor just picked up another prestige nomination, and this one comes with a fun little twist: it is the only television series nominated in the 2026 Hugo Awards’ Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form category. The official Hugo finalists list includes Andor (Season 2) alongside Frankenstein, KPop Demon Hunters, Mickey 17, Sinners, and Superman. That makes this nomination feel a bit more interesting than the average awards-season headline. The category is basically a movie field this year The Hugo Awards’ official finalists page lists six Long Form nominees, and Andor is the only TV entry among them. Everything else in the category is a film release, which gives Andor a slightly unusual place in the lineup. The official listing credits Season 2 to writers Tom Bissell, Dan Gilroy, Tony Gilroy, and Beau Willimon, and directors Ariel Kleiman, Janus Metz, and Alonso Ruizpalacios. That does not automatically make Andor the favorite, of…
Looking Back at Every Star Wars Celebration Ahead of 2027 Ticket Sales
With Star Wars Celebration 2027 tickets going on sale on May 6, this feels like the perfect time to look backward before the fandom charges forward again. We already know the next Celebration is going to be a big one. The event heads to Los Angeles in 2027, and with ticket sales around the corner, the usual mix of excitement, planning, badge stress, hotel panic, and “should we actually do this?” energy is starting to kick in. If you missed the latest update on badge pricing and the on-sale date, we already broke that down in our guide to Star Wars Celebration 2027 tickets, prices, and the May 6 on-sale date. But before everyone starts refreshing ticket pages and wrecking their budgets, it is worth taking a step back and remembering just how long and strange the road to Celebration 2027 has actually been. This article is also built around…
Lucasfilm and IMAX Are Letting Fans Watch the First 30 Minutes of The Mandalorian & Grogu on May the 4th
Lucasfilm and IMAX are doing something very smart with The Mandalorian & Grogu: they are letting fans sample the movie early, on the most Star Wars date imaginable. A special May the 4th IMAX event is giving fans the chance to watch the first 30 minutes of The Mandalorian & Grogu at select theaters before the film’s full release. Fandango’s event listing says the screening will preview more than 25 minutes of never-before-seen footage, and the RSVP sign-up is being handled through a theater registration form for local participating locations. That is not a small teaser. This is Lucasfilm effectively treating the opening half-hour like a theatrical sales pitch, which makes a lot of sense for a movie that has been pushed hard as an IMAX event. The official IMAX movie page lists The Mandalorian and Grogu as a Filmed For IMAX release and confirms the full theatrical release date…
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…
Lucasfilm Turns 55 Today — and That Is a Pretty Wild Star Wars Milestone
Before there was Star Wars, before ILM rewired blockbuster filmmaking, and before Lucasfilm became one of the most important names in modern franchise history, it was just a company George Lucas started on April 20, 1971. That means Lucasfilm turns 55 today. Lucasfilm’s own company history says George Lucas incorporated Lucasfilm in 1971 after making THX 1138, creating the company as a way to support his future projects. A new anniversary post from ILM adds a more precise date, noting that Lucasfilm was established on April 20, 1971, in Mill Valley, California, when Lucas was just 26 years old. And honestly, that is a bigger anniversary than it might first sound. Before Star Wars was even Star Wars It is easy to think of Lucasfilm purely as “the Star Wars company,” but that came later. In 1971, this was basically George Lucas building a home for the work he wanted…