'The Mandalorian & Grogu' Release Date Set for Spring 2026 (original) (raw)

Published Apr 5, 2024, 2:51 PM EDT

A cinematic obsessive with the filmic palate of a starving raccoon, Rob London will watch pretty much anything once. With a mind like a steel trap, he's an endless fount of movie and TV trivia, borne from a misspent youth of watching monster movies on TV, perusing the sun-faded goods at the local video rental shop, and staining his fingers with ink from the Video Movie Guide. Areas of interest include science fiction, film noir, horror flicks, '70s disaster pictures, Bond movies, '90s action, giant robots, dinosaurs, super heroes, and the exuberantly schlocky output of Cannon Films. He also enjoys both Star Trek and Star Wars when they're good, and maybe even more when they're bad. As a Canadian, he also has a vested interest in Canadian movies and TV shows, especially the cheesier ones dubbed "Canuxploitation."

An expert on Marvel Comics, he has also written for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, and is a member of the Marvel Research Team. He can frequently be found pontificating on comic-book continuity or bemoaning the misfortunes of the Toronto Maple Leafs on his Twitter account.

Summary

The Mandalorian & Grogu, the movie helmed by Jon Favreau, hits theaters on May 22, 2026, marking Star Wars' return to the big screen after 7 years.
The film will likely continue storylines from the popular streaming series, possibly bringing back characters like Bo-Katan Kryze and Ahsoka Tano.
Directed and co-written by Favreau, The Mandalorian & Grogu promises an exciting new chapter in the Star Wars saga.

It's been almost five years since the last Star Wars movie hit theaters, but now we know when the venerable science fiction franchise will return to the big screen — almost 49 years to the day since the original Star Wars sent audiences into hyperspace. The Mandalorian & Grogu, the big-screen version of Jon Favreau's Disney+ hit The Mandalorian, will blast into theaters on May 22, 2026. It will be the first new Star Wars theatrical release since 2019's The Rise of Skywalker. Previously, Collider reported that the movie was planning to begin filming this June, giving it almost two years before its scheduled premiere date.

The film's release date, which will have it kick off 2026's summer movie season, is a bit of a departure from Disney's Star Wars release schedule since their 2012 purchase of Lucasfilm. The Star Wars sequel trilogy, as well as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, were all Christmas releases, with the one exception being Solo: A Star Wars Story, which turned out to be a box office disappointment. However, it's not as if Star Wars can't work in the summer months — the movie that began it all, Star Wars, hit theaters on May 25, 1977, and went on to shatter box office records. Its two sequels and George Lucas' decades-later prequel trilogy were all May releases, as well, and they all dominated the box office.

What Do We Know About 'The Mandalorian & Grogu'?

So far, we know little about the film apart from what is stated in its title - it will center around the duo of Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), the Mandalorian bounty hunter who seemingly retired at the end of his series' third season, and Grogu, the Force-wielding alien infant who Djarin took in as his adopted son. Presumably, the film will also feature some of the characters and storylines introduced in the previous three seasons of the popular streaming series, including Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) and her attempts to rebuild the Mandalorian homeworld, ex-Jedi Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) and her quest to find the lost Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen), and the sinister Imperial experiments Djarin originally rescued Grogu from, that may eventually result in Emperor Palpatine's return from the dead.

The Mandalorian & Grogu will be directed by Favreau; he will also co-write the film with newly-minted Lucasfilm Chief Creative Officer Dave Filoni, who has his own Star Wars film in the works. Favreau and Filoni will also produce the film with Kathleen Kennedy.

The Mandalorian & Grogu will be released on May 22, 2026. The series is streaming now on Disney+. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.