Explained why The Mandalorian and Grogu became the first Star Wars film in 7 years

[Monday, May 25, 2026]

Jon Favreau explains why The Mandalorian and Grogu is the first new Star Wars movie in nearly seven years.

After the universe returned to the big screen in 2015, new films were released regularly until December 2019. AfterThe Rise of Skywalker. Sunrisefranchise has largely shifted to streaming series for Disney+. During this seven-year period, many films were announced, but the story of Din Djarin was the first to reach theaters.

In an interviewGamesRadar+ Favreau admits that he does not know the exact reason why his film became the first in a long time. The director and co-writer ofThe Mandalorian and Grogususpects that this is due to the popularity of the main characters. He noted that even those who do not follow the franchise know about Grogu

I'm not sure why we were asked to do this. I suspect that this is because these characters may be familiar to people, even those who haven't watchedStar Wars, especially Grogu. Baby Yoda was everywhere. And these two characters were used to launch Disney Plus. We didn't assume that audiences were already watchingStar WarswhenThe Mandaloriancame out. But we also wanted the film to feel authentic toStar Wars, and so the world we created as a backdrop and the way the characters presented themselves was embraced byStar Warsfans.

But it also became an opportunity for people who may have never watchedStar Warson TV. And here we are, seven years after the last film was released.I think there is an opportunity to introduceStar Warsto new audiences using these characters.

The success of the first season of The Mandalorian laid the foundation for Disney+ and paved the way for other game shows, including the critically acclaimed Andor. However, in the third season, the series began to delve deeper into Mandalorian mythology and other aspects of canon, making the story more difficult to understand. In the upcoming film, the authors tried to simplify the lore.

Which Star Wars films could have been released earlier

Lucasfilm worked on several films at different times. Some of the projects were close to the start of production, but the studio decided to abandon them.

  • Rogue SquadronPatty Jenkins;
  • The Hunt for Ben Soloby Steven Soderbergh
  • Rian Johnson Trilogy (The Last Jedi);
  • D.B. Trilogy Weiss and David Benioff (Game of Thrones);
  • Film by Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok);
  • Dawn of the Jediby James Mangold;
  • “The New Jedi Order”Sharmin Obaid.
  • Dave Filoni's crossover project is supposed to be the culmination of The Mandalorian and other series.

The Mandalorian and Grogu premiered in theaters on May 21.