By George & Josh Bate
After seven long years, Star Wars will finally return to the big screen next month when The Mandalorian and Grogu hits theaters.
After headlining this year’s Creative Community Luncheon at CinemaCon 2026, The Mandalorian and Grogu director Jon Favreau walked on stage at The Dolby Colosseum to discuss his upcoming film and present two trailers and the first 18 minutes of the movie.
Marking the big screen return of Star Wars after seven years, Favreau’s film marks a milestone in the acclaimed filmmaker’s career as he has directed an episode of The Mandalorian but never a full-fledged Star Wars movie. “Star Wars made me fall in love with movies,” said Favreau. “I saw it for the first time with my dad. That opening shot with the ship flying over changed my life…I had gotten to only direct one episode of the series, which was the first episode of the second season, and now I got the opportunity to do that with all the collaborators [on a movie].”
Naming Dave Filoni and Peter Ramsay as important collaborators, Favreau remarked, “I hope that our enjoyment and excitement and love of Star Wars translates to fans seeing it for the first time.”
The excitement in Favreau’s voice was easy to detect as he gears up to bring Din Djarin and Grogu (not Baby Yoda, as Favreau reminded the audience) to theaters next month. “We can’t wait to introduce him to a brand new audience,” the director said.
Favreau took the time to praise the performances of Pedro Pascal, Jeremy Allen White, and Sigourney Weaver in the film.
A brand new trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu was then screened at CinemaCon and released concurrently online. Check it out below.
Along with the trailer, a new poster for the movie was released. Check it out below.
Favreau then came back on stage, presumably to wrap up The Mandalorian and Grogu portion of the presentation. But thankfully, that was not the case.
The first 18 minutes of The Mandalorian and Grogu were screened exclusively to the CinemaCon crowd, providing the audience at The Dolby Colosseum a world exclusive first look at the movie. Keep reading for a detailed description of the first 18 minutes of The Mandalorian and Grogu.
Of course, the film begins with the Lucasfilm logo. Unlike the slew of Disney+ series that have released since the last theatrically released Star Wars film, however, the movie does not begin with the blue and red Star Wars intro full of characters’ silhouettes.
An opening crawl then appears on screen, establishing the story that is to unfold. The opening crawl appears in a pale yellow/green color and explains that the evil Empire has fallen. The text resembles the crawl for Solo: A Star Wars Story, other than its color. The remnants of the old regime, however, remain and are actively hunted down by the New Republic. The Mandalorian and Grogu (whose names are capitalized) are working for the New Republic to hunt down lingering Imperial forces.
After the text fades, we pick up on the snowy planet seen in the trailers. An unnamed Imperial warlord sits at a table full of local government officials as he informs them that he has to raise the local tributes. One of the government officials protests and is swiftly shot and killed by the warlord, as the others cower in fear. The Imperial warlord then says, “Long live the Empire,” as heard in the trailer.
Elsewhere in the facility, Stormtroopers and Snow Troopers are eliminated from a dark figure in the shadows. It’s clear that this is Din Djarin, who evokes his inner Batman in operating from the darkness to stealthily take down bad guys one by one.
Back in the main room, one of the Snow Troopers receives a warning that someone is in the facility and sets off a warning. The government officials are handed blasters to defend themselves, but they look confused, presumably unfamiliar with ever wielding blasters. The Imperial warlord, meanwhile, flees in an elevator and once again shouts, “Long live the Empire.”
Din Djarin then makes his grand hero entrance by emerging through the entrance of the main room. We see the moment from the trailer in which he uses his wrist flamethrower to burn one trooper alive and then use his blaster to shoot another trooper from behind without looking.
As this is going on, Grogu is in another part of the facility. We see Grogu use the Force to disassemble a Mouse Droid that was dispatched by the Imperial warlord. Grogu makes his way outside and covers behind an object as a Snow Trooper approaches him. Before he’s caught though, Grogu’s dad steps in with an AT-RT (All Terrain Reconnaissance Transport). Din Djarin blasts the soldier with the AT-RT cannon and tells Grogu, “What are you waiting for?” Grogu then does a big Force leap onto the AT-RT.
Din Djarin tells Grogu to hold on as he leads the AT-RT down a steepy cliff. They go down the cliff and turn a corner onto a narrow ridge where three massive AT-ATs await. The scale is incredible and certainly is bigger in scope than anything we’ve ever seen from the Disney+ series.
Inside one of the AT-ATs is the warlord, who angrily commands his troops to kill “The Mandalorian.” This line suggests that Din Djarin has become somewhat of a known figure among the Imperial remnant, which would make sense given his role in stopping Moff Gideon on more than a few occasions.
On the ground, Din Djarin and Grogu maneuver the AT-RT to avoid being stomped on. Djarin takes one of the vehicles down by placing thermal detonators on its legs. Right before they’re crushed, he uses his jet pack to fly away.
We then pick up inside the back of the AT-AT. What then ensues is an intricately choreographed one-take action sequence reminiscent of the hallway battles in Daredevil. Din Djarin takes down trooper after trooper in increasingly innovative ways. He uses his blaster, his fibercord whip, his fists, and more to eliminate them all one-by-one. As he approaches the camera, it then turns around to reveal the inside of the AT-AT cockpit. The remaining officer shuts the door to stop Din Djarin from entering. He alerts the warlord that he hears something climbing on the roof.
Din Djarin and Grogu then blow up the second AT-AT and make their way to the final AT-AT, which houses the Imperial warlord. They make their way into the cockpit, only to see that he has escaped in a small shuttle and left behind him a bunch of ignited thermal detonators.
Din Djarin takes control of the AT-AT’s weapon system as he aims at the fleeing warlord’s struggle. Grogu on his back taps him several times to alert him of the explosives that are about to go off. Din Djarin shoots down the warlord and, together with Grogu, escapes the AT-AT just in the nick of time.
They use the jetpack to board a U-Wing piloted by none other than Zeb, the fan favorite Lasat from Star Wars Rebels. Zeb tells Din Djarin that he should have tried to keep the warlord alive, but Din Djarin dismisses him.
The title card then appears.
The opening credits unfold as we see shots of the Adelphi Base, the same base that appeared in The Mandalorian Season 3. Pedro Pascal, of course, is credited first. Jeremy Allen White is credited second, which suggests a rather prominent role for Rotta the Hutt. Credited third is Brendan Wayne, who plays Din Djarin in many scenes. It’s nice to see Wayne receive such a prominent credit given how much he is responsible for bringing this iconic character to life.
As the credits wrap up, Din Djarin and Grogu make their way into a room occupied by Sigourney Weaver’s Colonel Ward. Grogu uses the Force to try and get some sweets from the table, but Ward stops him. Ward admonishes Din Djarin for killing the warlord, saying that they are not pursuing revenge. Instead, they want to “prevent another war.” Din Djarin remains resolute, however, in his determination to kill all the remaining bad guys.
The trio make their way outside, where Ward tasks Din Djarin with another mission. She wants him to track down a mysterious Imperial warlord named Coyne (spelling is unclear, although we suspect that this is the character played by Jonny Coyne. Kind of strange though that the character and the actor share the same name). Ward mentions that no one knows what Coyne looks like, a secret that is implied by the fact that the card she presents Mando is blank.
Ward elaborates that she wants Mando to journey to Nal Hutta and do a favor for the Hutts so that they can lead the New Republic to Coyne. The favor in question? Rescue Jabba the Hutt’s only living heir from the clutches of a rival crime syndicate.
Din Djarin refuses to take on the job as he does not want to work for a crime syndicate. Here we see a departure in philosophy for the bounty hunter, who was introduced as working for all manner of scum and villainy.
Ward seemingly knew that Mando would resist taking on the job as she already has a plan in place to incentivize him. She turns a corner to reveal a brand new Razor Crest. Mando and Grogu board the ship, alongside Zeb. The Lasat recommends that they take the job.
Mando explores the ship as he sees Grogu playfully jump up and down on his little bed. They make their way into the cockpit and Grogu starts to play with buttons. Mando tells Grogu to stop hitting the buttons and then proceeds to take off, presumably with Zeb on the back.
Putting the pieces together from the CinemaCon footage, Favreau’s comments, and the trailers, we predict that the film will then see Mando visit the Hutt Twins from The Book of Boba Fett on Nal Hutta. There, he will probably be unmasked and face the big white snake monster. After that, we suspect he’ll meet the character voiced by Martin Scorsese for info on Rotta the Hutt. This will lead him to the gladiator arena, where Din Djarin will presumably become a reluctant participant. Beyond that, we’re unsure how the story will go. It seems as if footage from this final act has been kept out of promotional material.
An extended trailer not released to the public was then presented to the CinemaCon crowd.
It should be noted that Ludwig Göransson’s score that accompanies the opening 18 minutes is incredible. He uses established themes, remixes them at times, and implements all kinds of other new musical cues. The music from the three-time Academy Award winner really adds a cinematic feel to the film.
Overall, we were impressed with what we saw. Favreau has clearly taken strides to make the movie feel like an actual movie, and not just another episode of The Mandalorian. The action is more elaborate, the sets are bigger, and the visual effects are stronger.
If our anticipation was already sky-high for The Mandalorian and Grogu, this new footage amplified our hype to new heights.