The newest trailer for The Mandalorian & Grogu has landed, and to many fans’ surprise, it looks good. Really good. It’s a major improvement over the rushed teaser Disney and Lucasfilm dropped back in September 2025. This version feels more cinematic, with better pacing, tighter editing, and shots that look like they belong on the big screen rather than on a streaming app. It looks like an old-school Star Wars adventure. But does that mean it should be a movie?
Even with the stronger trailer, The Mandalorian & Grogu still doesn’t fully convince viewers that it belongs in theaters. The action looks solid, the chemistry is still there, but the story? It feels more like an extension of the Disney+ series than a leap to something grander. You can’t help but wonder did Disney make a movie just because it ran out of ideas for a season four?
That question doesn’t come out of nowhere. Jon Favreau, the man behind the series and now the film, confirmed the scripts for The Mandalorian Season 4 were finished back in early 2023—long before the studio switched gears. In January 2024, Disney scrapped the season and turned it into a feature film, following a similar pattern to Moana 2, which began as a Disney+ show before being refitted for theaters. Did The Mandalorian & Grogu just mash eight episodes into one long movie? It’s hard to tell, but it sure looks that way.
The Mandalorian and Grogu | Official Trailer | In Theaters May 22
Alex Leadbeater, a MovieWeb content director who’s written about Star Wars since before Disney took over, isn’t convinced. He said, “There is a reasonable argument to be made this movie is a season 4 that was retooled after Disney shifted strategy. The issue many have is less the medium of The Mandalorian & Grogu and more what exactly it is. We’ve had two released trailers so far, and there isn’t a hint of what the story is.” He’s not wrong. A great trailer raises questions about the story that make fans want to see the movie. This one just leaves people wondering why it’s a movie at all.
From what little can be pieced together, the plot picks up after The Mandalorian Season 3, with Din Djarin taking contracts from the New Republic. A new character, Colonel Ward played by Sigourney Weaver, gives him missions—essentially acting as his version of “M” from James Bond. That setup makes sense for a TV show, but will it wear thin over two hours? One mission involves the Hutt twins from The Book of Boba Fett, another takes Mando and Grogu to a snow planet crawling with ex-Imperials. It sounds episodic because, well, it probably was.
That’s not the only challenge. The Mandalorian & Grogu needs to convince regular viewers to leave the couch and buy a ticket. That’s no small task in an era where even Marvel and Pixar are struggling to get fans back into theaters. Still, if any Star Wars characters can pull it off, it’s Mando and Grogu. Their fanbase is massive, their merch flies off shelves, and people genuinely care about their story. That’s a rare combination these days. Imagine if Disney even included a Gina Carano cameo? That would be a chef’s kiss.
Despite being the first Star Wars movie in seven years, Disney hasn’t sold The Mandalorian & Grogu as the kind of event the brand used to guarantee. Right now, it feels closer to Solo: A Star Wars Story. To make matters worse, early box office tracking puts it behind Spider-Man: Brand New Day and even Nolan’s The Odyssey, Disney’s own Toy Story 5, and the live-action Moana. Remember when every Star Wars movie automatically topped the charts? Those days might be long gone.
Still, Jon Favreau has more than earned the benefit of the doubt. He’s the guy who launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe and revived Star Wars on television with The Mandalorian. Maybe he knows something we don’t. Maybe The Mandalorian & Grogu will surprise everyone and reignite the franchise that helped shape modern blockbusters. Or maybe it’ll remind us what happens when Disney turns another show into a movie nobody asked for. With Avengers: Doomsday out of the way this summer, we’ll find out soon enough if Mando and Grogu can still pull in the galaxy.
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