On May 22, 2026, Disney and Lucasfilm will officially bring Star Wars back to the big screen with a Mando-Verse adventure titled The Mandalorian and Grogu. The announcement of Jon Favreau’s feature film caught many off guard, especially considering The Mandalorian Season 4 was also supposedly in the works in addition to Dave Filoni’s own New Republic-era movie.
Now, new information has come to light regarding the future of The Mandalorian franchise, following the confirmation that one main star–and legacy Star Wars actor–has been put on the “shelf.”
It was in January 2024 that Lucasfilm confirmed its frontrunner for the live-action movie slate. No, it wasn’t any of the three projects studio president Kathleen Kennedy announced a year previous at Star Wars Celebration, but Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian and Grogu. “Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni have ushered into Star Wars two new and beloved characters, and this new story is a perfect fit for the big screen,” Kennedy said at the time (via StarWars.com).
While the excitement at two of Star Wars‘ most beloved recent characters hitting the big screen was palpable, the announcement left many with raised eyebrows. How did this fit with the anticipated fourth season of The Mandalorian? And what about Dave Filoni’s Mando-Verse/Heir to the Empire movie?
None of those questions have been truly answered quite yet, but The Hollywood Reporter claimed in October that The Mandalorian Season 4 was a non-starter and that the upcoming feature film will replace it.
“Instead of a fourth season, Disney decided to pivot The Mandalorian to launch its first Star Wars feature film since The Rise of Skywalker,” the outlet wrote on October 3, 2024. “Coming in 2026, The Mandalorian & Grogu will probably perform well. Yet it also looks like Disney spent many years and untold capital struggling to develop a new Star Wars movie, and its best idea was an extra-long episode of a TV show.”
It’s no secret that the third season of the show began to lose momentum. Between explaining Cara Dune’s (Gina Carano) absence and exploring who the titular Mandalorian is with the expansion of Bo-Katan Kryze’s (Katee Sackhoff) character to Pedro Pascal’s own confirmation that he is no longer physically performing Din Djarin and the divisive Star Wars debut of Lizzo (Duchess) and Jack Black (Captain Bombardier), Season 3 was not the smash hit its predecessors were.
That said, audiences were looking forward to the next chapter on Disney+ sometime in the future–that starship has seemingly sailed.
The Mandalorian‘s three seasons have been ripe for cameos and live-action debuts of fan-favorite animated characters. In the second season, the aforementioned Bo-Katan Kryze arrived, setting Din Djarin (Pascal) and “The Child” (AKA “Baby Yoda”) on a quest to find the former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson). The second season also saw Temuera Morrison return as Boba Fett following his turn as Jango Fett and the clone trooper army in George Lucas’s prequel trilogy.
While Boba Fett remains a popular character, his own spinoff show, The Book of Boba Fett, failed to catch as prominently as The Mandalorian and plans for more seasons have seemingly halted. Morrison previously spoke out about The Mandalorian Season 4, and it wasn’t good news.
Related: Five Years Later, Disney Confirms ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ Is Getting Remade
“I was hoping for a [Book of Boba Fett Season 2], maybe, but we’ll see what happens…” Morrison told The RaeSide on YouTube after suggesting Lucasfilm is focusing on new stuff. “I don’t know what’s on the cards, but it’d be nice to work with [Ming-Na Wen] again.”
Prior to this, Morrison had told Screen Rant at Fan Expo Chicago that he was unlikely to be involved with The Mandalorian and Grogu. The legacy Star Wars actor said:
“I understand they’re going to do a Mando with Grogu movie next and things have changed too, there was going to be a Mando 4, and I was going to turn up in that, but as of now I’m still waiting for a phone call to be quite honest. I think we’re just put on the shelf for a little bit. Maybe we come off the shelf later.”
Now, Dave Filoni, who is producing The Mandalorian and Grogu alongside Jon Favreau and Kathleen Kennedy, has spoken out about the movie now that filming has wrapped.
“I’m very excited about it as well,” Filoni shared while attending the Skeleton Crew premiere at Disneyland Resort earlier this week. “Jon and I had a great time working on that, as we always do. It was great seeing Grogu. He’s become such a star, and it’s amazing how it’s evolved, what we can do now with the puppetry compared to Season 1 and where we are today in a film working with the team, which I worked quite a bit with them on the puppetry.”
“Legacy Effects did a fantastic job, and what a wonderful little creation Grogu is,” he added.
The chief creative officer also divulged information about the upcoming season of Ahsoka, which was confirmed alongside The Mandalorian and Grogu announcement at the top of the year. Ahsoka Season 2 will likely explore the threads left open at the end of the first season (if the Mando movie doesn’t already touch on them) and continue as a live-action sequel of sorts to Star Wars Rebels.
“I’m so well into that as well,” Filoni said (via SFF Gazette). “I’ve been writing it, and I’m still the single writer on it, and so I’ve been enjoying doing that, but it’s a challenge, of course, and working some of these arcs through has been a challenge and making sure it’s all going to come out in a way that I think is exciting for fans.”
The next chapter of the Star Wars franchise will be interesting, especially now that the reserved December 2026 slot has been replaced with Ice Age 6 (2026). The Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy-helmed Rey Skywalker movie starring Daisy Ridley was seemingly being lined up for December 2026, but the reported production issues, teamed with the announcement of Simon Kinberg’s new trilogy, have likely derailed the production.
For those looking for a dose of the New Republic while awaiting the big screen debut of Din Djarin and Din Grogu, Jon Watts and Christopher Ford’s Skeleton Crew began airing on Disney+ this week. The Jude Law-led TV series comes after Lucasfilm unceremoniously canceled Leslye Headland’s The Acolyte following heated discourse during its summer run on the Disney streaming service.
How do you feel about The Mandalorian Season 4 seemingly not happening? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!
The post New Information Comes To Light Over Canceled ‘Mandalorian’ Season 4, Dave Filoni Speaks Out appeared first on Inside the Magic.
