Jon Favreau Wants The Mandalorian & Grogu To Recapture The Magic Of A New Hope

The Mandalorian and Grogu might just feel like the very first Star Wars movie.

Writer and director Jon Favreau has revealed that he wants The Mandalorian and Grogu to recapture the magic of Star Wars: A New Hope when it arrives on the big screen. A sequel to The Mandalorian TV show, the movie follows its main duo as they hunt for information about Imperial Commander Coyne, whom they are hunting down years after the fall of the Empire. The movie will be released in theaters on May 22, 2026, bringing the TV series’ pairing onto the big screen for the very first time.

In an interview with ScreenRant‘s Ash Crossan, Favreau revealed his intention to make The Mandalorian and Grogu evoke the same feelings for people as when they saw A New Hope for the very first time. The director and co-writer of the movie explained the importance of this being the first Star Wars movie in seven years, and how the film is made even for people who haven’t seen the Mandalorian TV show. Reminiscing about his own history with the franchise, he explained the type of wonder and hype the movie intends to present.

Check out what Favreau had to say below:

ScreenRant: I guess I want to start with just how accessible the movie is. I felt like I got those vibes I got from watching A New Hope, or the first act of Jedi. When you’re looking at those things, were there any specific references you really wanted to make? What types of feelings were you looking to kind of emote out of me?
Jon Favreau: There’s so many different tones of Star Wars now, in the last 49 years, and what you’re learning is that if it’s well done, people appreciate all of them, and there’s different groups, different ages that appreciate different things. We wanted to, for this, because it’s the first time in almost seven years it’s been on a big screen. For it to be, first of all, a celebration for fans to come in. Anybody who’s seen the show, come on back, and we’re going to play the hits. It’s going to be fun.
For people who love Star Wars and didn’t see the show, we want people then to be able to come in. There’s a lot in there for you, too. You’ll recognize a lot of things. But we, especially, felt like there’s people, kids who could be like 12-years-old now, who maybe seven years ago weren’t old enough to go to the movies and see a Star Wars movie. It was too much for them.
Let them come to the theater and see what Star Wars is like. It’s great to watch on Disney+. The animation stuff is awesome. It brings a lot of people in, The Mandalorian’s a fun thing to watch with your friends and family, but the thing that turned me into a fan, was being in the audience by my dad’s side, 10-years-old, and the cheering, and the reaction to the blockade runner, and the Imperial Cruiser passing over my head, and how that shot never ended, and the crowd went from oohing and aweing, to laughing, to cheering.
And when you’re young, you’re picking up on the energy, like a sports team, like when you go see a sports team that becomes your team for life. And so we wanted to make sure that we had that feeling, and trying to emulate that tone and trying to emulate the feeling of, you know who to root for, you know who these people are, but it’s still a dangerous world, and it could get a little scary, and it can get a little funny, but ultimately it has to be a hopeful story and, that’s what we wanted to, I think, set out to do.

The Mandalorian and Grogu‘s release on the big screen will be the first Star Wars movie since 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. It will also be the first spinoff to arrive in theaters since Solo: A Star Wars Story, which was released in 2018. While the movie takes place after the events of The Mandalorian season 3, Favreau’s comments are a clear indication that knowledge of the TV series isn’t necessary to watch the movie. Instead, one of the biggest goals of the film is to replicate the feelings that were evoked by the original movie.

The movie already has ties to the original, with its titular characters joining the fight against the remnants of the Empire. It helps position the movie within the larger Star Wars timeline while also dealing with its own unique, original story that acts as a fitting follow-up to the TV show. The feelings Favreau seeks to evoke could help to usher in a new era of the franchise on the big screen. Depending on how well the movie performs, it could be what brings the series back into the larger public consciousness.

The Mandalorian and Grogu is the first of many films that seek to bring Star Wars back to the big screen. Next year, Star Wars: Starfighter led by Ryan Gosling will be released, which will be set at the farthest point in the timeline, five years after The Rise of Skywalker. In addition, Disney has three other Star Wars movies in development. As the first of this long slate of movies expanding on the galaxy far, far away, it makes sense why Filoni would want to evoke ideas of A New Hope in The Mandalorian and Grogu.

With the film almost in theaters, it won’t be long until the extent of Filoni’s comparisons to A New Hope are more fully formed. The Mandalorian and Grogu will be bringing Star Wars somewhere it hasn’t been in a long time, something that offers a new era for the franchise as it comes back to the big screen in full force.