By George & Josh Bate
We were extraordinarily fortunate to be given the opportunity to attend the world premiere of The Mandalorian and Grogu, courtesy of Lucasfilm, Disney, and ScreenRant. You can check a full round-up of initial reactions (including our own) to the new Star Wars movie here, but, in this article, we’re breaking down our experience at the mind-blowing red carpet event.
Having covered festivals, conventions, and premieres as press for nearly a decade, we’ve experienced our fair share of disorganization, disarray, and rowdiness. None of these terms, however, could even remotely describe The Mandalorian and Grogu world premiere. Meticulously organized, perfectly laid out, and featuring an atmosphere that got you pumped for the movie to come, we can’t speak highly enough about all the behind-the-scenes magic that made the premiere as enjoyable and seamless as it was.
After going through security, we received our guest badges and made our way into a massive area right in from the of the famous El Capitan Theatre. A big standee of an AT-AT in the snow was on display, in front of which was a life-sized trooper and AT-RT. We also saw tons of cool cosplayers, many of whom dressed in customized Mandalorian armor.
The next area at the event was an indoor space housing tons of props and items used to film The Mandalorian and Grogu. You can check out a gallery of some of the items below, which include the stall that Martin Scorsese’s character in the film works at, the landspeeder that Mando, Zeb, and Grogu use, and more.
Also in this room were cool Coca Cola, Diet Coke, and Sprite bottles labeled in Aurebesh writing and designed like thermal detonators. Similar items are sold at Galaxy’s Edge.
Outside of the indoor space led to the sprawling red carpet, on which the various celebrity guests came and were interviewed by the press line.
The press line was followed by a large space featuring vendors, props, and tons of opportunities for mingling (which we’ll get into). The Mandalorian and Grogu-themed Nilla wafers, designed to look like the blue biscuits Grogu eats in the movie, were given out, as were Grogu’s Garlic Chicken Fries and toys from Burger King. There were also limited-edition The Mandalorian and Grogu meat sticks from Archer Meat Snacks, encased in a cool pencil bag-type thing, handed out. And we got some neat nail polish, provided by Olive & June. You can check out a picture of all these goodies below (minus the Nilla wafers, which had already been eaten by the timefore we could take a picture).
In this space, celebrity guests, some of whom we got to speak to, trickled their way in. We had a conversation with Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Carson Teva), catching up after we interviewed him several years prior for The Mandalorian Season 3. We briefly exchanged words with Omid Abtahi (Doctor Pershing) and walked past Katee Sackhoff, Lateef Crowder, Manny Jacinto, Kevin Durand, Brendan Wayne, Sigourney Weaver, Pedro Pascal, and Dave Filoni.
We also spotted Kevin Feige at the premiere, rocking a cool Doctor Doom hat.
During the event, we met some other Star Wars fans we’ve long admired, including The Mollylorian, JTimSuggs, and Star Wars Explained.
There were also photo opportunities with a moving Grogu puppet and a massive LEGO AT-RT with Grogu. Check that out below.
We then wandered our way into the theater itself, only to discover that we were the very first people in there. Seriously. Check out some pictures below.
Eventually, others steadily came into the theater. Sitting just a few seats away from us was Vanessa Marshall (Hera in Rebels and Rook Kast in Maul – Shadow Lord). We told her how much we adore her work in a galaxy far, far away. Sitting behind us was Chris Diamantopoulos (Vario in Maul – Shadow Lord), another great addition to the Star Wars family.
We then caught a glimpse of a person we just had to say hi to. Somehow evading detection from a room full of Star Wars fans, Timothy Olyphant made his way to a seat two rows ahead of us. We went up to him and nervously told him that he is our mom’s favorite person (we meant to say that he is our mom’s favorite actor, but, in all honestly, what we said was probably true – Olyphant is just that cool). We took a selfie with him and expressed that we’ve love to see Cobb Vanth return.
Of course, all the soda you drink at the movies makes you need to go to the bathroom. But only at a Star Wars premiere would you be at a urinal next to Robert Rodriguez and close to Peter Ramsay. What a crazy life.
Just as the lights were dimming, we took a picture with Eman Esfandi (Ezra in Ahsoka). Other actors would have rushed to their seat as the lights were dimming, but Esfandi kindly took the few extra sessions to take a picture (and joke about how dark it was).
Before the movie started, director Jon Favreau introduced what fans were about to see. Favreau thanked Disney and Lucasfilm for giving him the chance to make a Star Wars movie, and the California Film Commission “for allowing us to have a tax incentive here and allowing us to be the first Star Wars film to be made entirely in Los Angeles.”
Favreau then touchingly addded, “I sat by my dad’s side 49 years ago watching Star Wars for the first time and tonight, I’m getting to sit next to my dad and watch this movie. Thank you, dad.”
After the movie, we brushed shoulders with former Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy. To be in proximity to a woman who has masterminded so many of our favorite fims wass brethaking, to say the least. Her husband and notable producer Frank Marshall was also there.
Making our way out of the theater, we bumped into Rick Famuyiwa, director of several episodes ofThe Mandalorian. But it wasn’t his work in a galaxy far, far away that we spoke to him about. We told him him much we lve his film Dope, a woefully underappeciated coming-of-age movie that is definitely worth your time. Of everyone we met at the vent, Famuyiwa left the most lasting and warm impression. He was so gracious with his time, kind enough to ask us our names, and was overall such a great guy.
On the street outside the theater, we bumped into Jon Watts and Christopher Ford, creators of Skeleton Crew. Rather than tell them how much we loved their Star Wars show though, we couldn’t help but express our love for Clown, an indie horror movie that the duo made over a decade ago. Watts replied to our comment, “We can go home happy now.”
From there, we made our way back to our car and proceded to talk about the unbelievable Star Wars movie we just set our eyes on. We can’t wait to hear how audiences around the world receive a film we think will give fans exactly what they’re looking for.
In wrapping this article up, we wanted to thank everyone who has followed our Star Wars coverage over the past nine years and made us the most followed Star Wars fan account on Twitter/X and one of the most followed across social media. Attending this world premiere would not have been possible without your support and kindness – we truly appreciate you all. We also want to express our gratitude to publicists and press representatives for Disney and Allied Global Marketing, who have helped us immensely on this journey. May the Force be with you all!