Grogu may be small enough to fit in a floating pram, but on the set of The Mandalorian and Grogu, he was apparently treated like a proper movie star. According to Variety’s feature on how Grogu was brought to life, the character was listed as number two on the film’s call sheet. Yes, right behind the title character territory. Yes, for the tiny green chaos child. And honestly? Fair. At this point, Grogu is not just a cute sidekick. He is one of the central reasons The Mandalorian became a cultural phenomenon in the first place. Grogu Is Not Just a Prop The funny thing about Grogu is that he could easily have been treated like an effect. A puppet. A digital creature. A merchandising miracle with ears. Instead, Lucasfilm has spent years treating him like an actual character, and the call sheet detail says a lot about that approach….
star wars
Dave Filoni Says Star Wars Crossovers Need a Reason
Star Wars has become very good at making audiences look over every shoulder for the next familiar face. Ahsoka might appear. Thrawn might be lurking. Zeb could walk in. Someone from animation might suddenly become very expensive in live action. The galaxy is connected, and viewers know it. But Dave Filoni is making one thing clear: Star Wars should not become a cameo delivery system. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly about The Mandalorian and Grogu, Filoni said writing Star Wars projects “is not always about character crossovers.” Instead, he said, “It’s about the characters and what they’re experiencing.” That may sound simple, but for modern Star Wars, it is a pretty important line in the sand. Not Every Story Needs Ahsoka and Thrawn The comment comes as Jon Favreau and Filoni discuss why Ahsoka Tano and Grand Admiral Thrawn do not appear in The Mandalorian and Grogu. On paper, fans could…
Marcia Lucas, Oscar-Winning Star Wars Editor, Dies at 80
Marcia Lucas, the Academy Award-winning editor whose work helped shape the original Star Wars into one of cinema’s most enduring adventures, has died at the age of 80. According to the Associated Press, Lucas died in Rancho Mirage, California, after metastatic cancer. For Star Wars history, her name belongs among the essential behind-the-scenes artists who helped turn George Lucas’ space fantasy into something mythic, emotional, funny, fast, and deeply human. She was often introduced through her marriage to George Lucas, but that has never been the full story. Marcia Lucas was one of the key creative forces in the editing room where Star Wars found its rhythm, its tension, and, in many ways, its soul. The Editor Who Helped Shape Star Wars Marcia Lucas won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for the original 1977 Star Wars, sharing the Oscar with Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew. That credit matters…
Dave Filoni Says He’s Becoming Lucasfilm’s Little Obi-Wan
Dave Filoni has found a very Dave Filoni way to describe running Star Wars. Not “brand architect.”Not “content overseer.”Not “the guy trying to stop the galaxy from collapsing under the weight of canon spreadsheets.” No, Filoni sees himself a little differently. Speaking to USA Today, via AOL, the Lucasfilm creative chief described his role as helping bring out the best in the people around him and being “a little Obi-Wan” when creators need guidance through the galaxy. Honestly, that may be the most Star Wars management quote ever given. The Mentor Role Fits Filoni Almost Too Well Filoni has always been a slightly unusual figure in modern Star Wars. He began as George Lucas’ animation apprentice on The Clone Wars, became one of the key voices behind Rebels, helped shape the Disney+ era through The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, and is now one of the central creative leaders steering Lucasfilm into…
Star Wars’ Streaming Detour May Not Have Hurt the Franchise After All
For years, the big worry around Star Wars was simple: had Disney trained audiences to see the galaxy as a streaming franchise? After The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, Ahsoka, and several animated series, Star Wars had spent a long time living on Disney+. Good for subscription value. Good for weekly discourse. Good for Grogu GIFs. But maybe risky for theaters. Now The Mandalorian and Grogu has opened with around $165 million worldwide, and the early answer may be less dramatic than expected. Star Wars did not return to cinemas like The Force Awakens. But it also did not come crawling back with a broken hyperdrive and a note from accounting. As box office analyst David A. Gross told Variety: “For Star Wars not to be hurt in any obvious way by its long detour onto streaming is good news for the franchise.” That is the…
Michael Pennington, Return of the Jedi’s Moff Jerjerrod, Has Passed Away
Sad news from the Star Wars galaxy: Michael Pennington, the British actor who played Moff Tiaan Jerjerrod in Return of the Jedi, has passed away. Pennington was 82. For Star Wars viewers, he will always be remembered as the Imperial officer overseeing the second Death Star — the man who had to stand in front of Darth Vader and explain that construction was not moving fast enough. A bad work meeting, by any galactic standard. The Man Who Had to Explain Delays to Darth Vader Pennington’s Moff Jerjerrod appears early in Return of the Jedi, nervously overseeing construction of the second Death Star above Endor. The official StarWars.com Databank entry for Moff Jerjerrod describes him as the commander responsible for completing the battle station under impossible pressure from both Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine. It is a small role, but a memorable one. Jerjerrod is not Grand Moff Tarkin. He…
The Mandalorian and Grogu Is Already Climbing Disney+ Before Theaters
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…
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….
Grogu Café Is Opening in London, Because Star Wars Has Finally Weaponized Matcha
Grogu has already conquered toys, memes, Disney+ thumbnails, lunchboxes, plush shelves, and the emotional stability of anyone with functioning eyes. Now he is coming for London’s café scene. Disney UK has announced a limited-time Grogu Café pop-up in Shoreditch, opening from Friday, May 15 to Sunday, May 17, ahead of the cinema release of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu on May 22, 2026. According to the official Disney UK press release, the pop-up will feature Grogu-inspired food, drinks, themed décor, photo moments, and merchandise. So yes, Star Wars has reached the “adorable alien matcha activation” phase. Honestly, it was only a matter of time. The Cutest Outpost in the Galaxy The café will be located at 1 Kingsland Road, Shoreditch, London, E2 8AA, with DisneyTickets describing it as a “matcha-fuelled experience” built around Grogu’s charm. Entry is free but ticketed, with food, drink, and products available to purchase on-site…
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…
Nielsen Says Star Wars Viewing Is Still Movie-First — Even in the Disney+ Era
or all the talk about Star Wars becoming a streaming-first franchise, the numbers are doing something very old-fashioned: pointing back at the movies. According to new Nielsen data on Star Wars viewing in 2025, live-action movies accounted for the biggest share of total Star Wars viewing, with 44.2% of watch time. Live-action series followed closely at 38.9%, while animation made up 16.8% and documentaries barely registered at 0.2%. In other words: Disney+ may have turned Star Wars into a year-round TV machine, but the films are still the franchise’s gravitational center. The Movies Still Run the Galaxy Nielsen reports that U.S. viewers spent more than 33 billion minutes watching Star Wars content across linear TV and streaming in 2025, with streaming accounting for most of that total. That is not exactly a franchise quietly fading into the twin suns. The most-watched Star Wars film of the year was not a…
Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains PC Specs Revealed — And Your Rig Can Probably Handle It
Good news for anyone worried that Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains might demand the power of a fully armed and operational battle station: the PC requirements are extremely reasonable. Ubisoft has now shared the PC specifications for the upcoming Star Wars-themed Monopoly game, and unless your computer still sounds like a podracer trying to start in a sandstorm, you are probably fine. The game is set to launch on June 11, 2026, with Ubisoft listing it for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2. A Surprisingly Light Trip Around the Galactic Board The official PC specs show three performance targets: Minimum, Recommended, and Ultra. Even the minimum target is aiming for 1080p at 60 FPS on High preset, which is a pretty friendly starting point for a modern licensed game. For minimum settings, players will need an Intel Core i3-8100 or AMD Ryzen 3…
The London Symphony Orchestra Is Bringing Star Wars Home in 2027
Some Star Wars events sound cool. This one sounds dangerous for anyone who gets emotional the second that opening crawl hits. London’s Royal Albert Hall has announced its first ever Star Wars in Concert Weekender, bringing the original trilogy to the venue across four days in spring 2027. Even better: the scores will be performed live by the London Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra forever tied to the sound of Star Wars itself. The event runs from April 29 to May 2, 2027, with two screenings each of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. (Royal Albert Hall) The Original Trilogy, Live The weekender will feature full film screenings while the LSO performs John Williams’ legendary scores live in the hall. The current schedule includes: A New Hope in Concert from April 29 to May 1The Empire Strikes Back in Concert from April 30 to May…
Hamleys Just Opened a Permanent Star Wars Fan Zone in London
Hamleys has just given Star Wars shoppers one more reason to “accidentally” end up on Regent Street. The famous London toy store has opened a new permanent Marvel and Star Wars Fan Zone on the fourth floor of its flagship store, timed neatly ahead of Star Wars Day. According to Toy World’s report on the new Fan Zone, the space opened on April 27 and is designed as an immersive retail area for Marvel and Star Wars fans. Mando, Grogu, and Retail Danger The Star Wars section includes a Mandalorian-inspired hideout with a layered archway backdrop and an existing LEGO sculpture of Mando and Grogu. In other words, Hamleys has discovered the oldest trick in modern Star Wars retail: put Grogu somewhere photogenic and watch wallets start sweating. The range includes LEGO sets, Hasbro figures, premium lightsabers and helmets, Jazwares figures and vehicles, Ravensburger games, Lexibook electronics, collectibles, and more….
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…
All LGBTQ+ Characters in Star Wars: The Galaxy Is Gayer Than the Empire Would Like
For a franchise that began with desert monks, family trauma, and a man in black breathing like a broken vacuum cleaner, Star Wars took its sweet time getting openly LGBTQ+ characters onto the page and screen. For years, the galaxy far, far away was full of subtext, coding, and “well, if you squint at this interview from 1983…” energy. But canon eventually stopped being coy. Comics, novels, games, and live-action series started putting queer characters front and center — not as trivia, not as a wink, but as actual people with actual relationships, desires, identities, and messy lives. Which, honestly, is the most Star Wars thing possible. Nobody in this franchise gets to be uncomplicated. A quick note before we jump to hyperspace: this article focuses on confirmed canon LGBTQ+ characters, not fan readings, not “maybe implied,” and not every background extra who appeared in one panel of a comic…
Star Wars: Zero Company Voice Cast: What We Know So Far
Star Wars: Zero Company still has one of those cast lists that feels more like a slowly opening blast door than a full reveal. The game itself is official: it is a single-player turn-based tactics game from Bit Reactor, made in collaboration with Respawn Entertainment and Lucasfilm Games, set in the twilight of the Clone Wars. Players step into the role of Hawks, leading an unconventional squad through a shadow-war story built around both authored characters and customizable recruits. What is not fully official yet is the voice cast. Publicly, Lucasfilm and EA have told us a lot about the game’s setting, squad structure, and major characters, but they have named surprisingly few actors so far. That makes this a good moment for a proper “what we know so far” check-in. Vic Michaelis is the newest reported name The newest actor connected to the game is comedian Vic Michaelis. In…
The Phantom Menace Hits Different Now
For years, The Phantom Menace was the Star Wars movie people mocked for opening with trade disputes, a blockade, and Senate paralysis instead of immediately throwing everyone into glorious space chaos. The phrase “taxation of trade routes” became shorthand for everything critics thought was too dry, too political, or too weirdly procedural about Episode I. But in 2026, with the Strait of Hormuz back in the headlines and global shipping suddenly looking fragile again, that setup feels a lot less silly than it used to. That does not mean George Lucas “predicted Iran” in some literal fortune-teller sense. It means he understood something a lot of people still underestimate: trade chokepoints are power. Blockades are power. Slow, compromised political institutions are power. And when those things collide, what sounds boring on paper can become the spark for a much bigger crisis. That is basically the entire engine of The Phantom…
Star Wars Racer Arcade (2000): The Podracing Follow-Up That Turned the Volume All the Way Up
After Star Wars Episode I: Racer (1999) proved that one scene from The Phantom Menace could somehow carry an entire game, it did not take long for someone to look at that success and think the obvious next thought: what if we made it bigger, louder, flashier, and more likely to eat your spare change in a public building? That is basically the story of Star Wars Racer Arcade. Released in 2000, the game was Sega’s arcade spin on the podracing craze, built with LucasArts and shown off as a dedicated cabinet experience rather than a straight port of the 1999 home game. Contemporary coverage from GameSpot described it as a separate arcade project from the team behind Star Wars Trilogy Arcade, while arcade sales material listed Sega as the manufacturer in 2000. And that distinction matters, because Racer Arcade is not just “the N64 game in a cabinet.” It…
The Mandalorian and Grogu’s Early Box Office Tracking Looks Soft
The first real box office tracking for The Mandalorian and Grogu is here, and it is not exactly the kind of number Lucasfilm probably wanted people talking about a month before release. According to early forecasting, the film is currently looking at roughly $71 million to $85 million domestic for its three-day opening weekend. That is not a disaster on its own. But it is the comparison point that makes this more interesting: Solo: A Star Wars Story opened to $84.4 million domestically in 2018, which means The Mandalorian and Grogu is currently tracking in a range that could land below it, roughly match it, or just barely edge past it depending on where it comes in. Why this number matters more than usual This is not just another Star Wars movie opening. The Mandalorian and Grogu is the first Star Wars theatrical release since 2019, and Lucasfilm has clearly…
Disney’s Rumored Extraction Shooter Could Be One to Watch for Star Wars Fans
A new rumor out of the Epic-Disney partnership may not be a Star Wars announcement, but it is close enough to put Star Wars fans on alert. According to a Bloomberg report picked up by The Verge, Epic is reportedly aiming to launch the first game tied to its Disney partnership in November 2026, and that game is said to be an extraction shooter. The comparison making the rounds is ARC Raiders: a shooter built around combat, survival, and making it to an extraction point before everything goes wrong. That is the rumor. The important part is what it does not confirm. Right now, there is no solid report saying this first game is specifically a Star Wars game. What is confirmed is that Disney and Epic’s 2024 deal was pitched as a massive, persistent games and entertainment universe connected to Fortnite, and Disney’s own announcement explicitly said it would…
Mara Jade Represents the Star Wars Future Fans Lost
There is a reason the Mara Jade story blew up harder than a lot of bigger Star Wars headlines this week. On paper, it was simple: Claudia Gray said Lucasfilm had told her no when she asked about using Mara Jade in canon, and Timothy Zahn said he had asked too and gotten the same answer. That is not a trailer. It is not a casting leak. It is not even an official Lucasfilm statement. But the reaction online made one thing very clear: for a lot of fans, Mara Jade is no longer just a character they miss. She has become a symbol for the version of Star Wars they feel slipped away. That is why the Reddit discussion got interesting so fast. It did not stay focused on whether Mara Jade is “cool” or whether Lucasfilm should bring back more Legends characters. The argument turned almost immediately into…
Mark Hamill Says Star Wars Is in Good Hands With Dave Filoni
As Star Wars edges closer to its 50th anniversary, Mark Hamill is doing what very few people connected to this franchise can do: looking backward and forward at the same time. In a new USA Today interview, Hamill reflected on the sheer weirdness of hitting the half-century mark since the original movie began filming in 1976, admitting the milestone makes him “feel old.” That part is pure nostalgia fuel. But the more interesting bit for where Star Wars is heading now is what he said about Dave Filoni. Hamill is clearly backing Filoni According to coverage of the interview, Hamill said he “can’t think of better hands” for Star Wars than Filoni’s, and pointed to one big reason why: Filoni learned directly from George Lucas. Hamill said Lucas was a mentor to Filoni, which in his view means Filoni understands George’s creative sensibility in a way that really matters for…
Sam Witwer Says He’d Return as Starkiller “In an Instant”
Sam Witwer just tossed a fresh log onto one of Star Wars fandom’s oldest fires. Speaking to Polygon, Witwer said that if Lucasfilm ever asked him to return as Starkiller, he would “shave my head in an instant” and do it happily. That is not a canon announcement, obviously. It is also not a casting rumor. But it is a very clear reminder that the man who helped make Starkiller iconic is still completely up for it. And honestly, that is enough to get people talking again. The door is not open — but it is definitely not locked from his side Witwer is already back in a big Star Wars spotlight thanks to Maul: Shadow Lord, where he has returned to one of his most closely associated roles in the franchise. So this was not some random convention nostalgia hit from a guy who has not touched Star Wars…