The Mandalorian and Grogu Doesn't Need to Be Good — It Just Needs to Show Up

3 hours ago by Riley Vox 5 min read

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Star Wars is returning to theaters for the first time in seven years. The trailers are divisive, the stakes are enormous, and honestly? None of that matters. Here's why.

Look, I'm going to say something that might sound like I've given up. But hear me out.

The Mandalorian and Grogu opens May 22nd. It's directed by Jon Favreau. Pedro Pascal is back as Din Djarin. Sigourney Weaver is playing a New Republic colonel. Jeremy Allen White is voicing Rotta the Hutt. And Martin Scorsese — yes, that Martin Scorsese, the man who said Marvel movies aren't cinema — is doing a voice cameo as an alien shopkeeper.

That last one alone should tell you everything about where Star Wars is in 2026.

The Trailers Were... Fine

Here's the thing. The trailers have been divisive, and honestly, I get both sides. The first teaser dropped back in September 2025 and gave us almost nothing — just vibes and a Grogu close-up. The full trailer in February was bigger, louder, more action-packed. And somehow still felt like an extended episode of the show.

That's been the criticism across the board: this looks like a TV movie with a theatrical budget. People keep saying it "doesn't feel like a real Star Wars movie." And I keep wondering — what does that even mean anymore?

Seven Years Is a Long Time

The last Star Wars film in theaters was The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. That movie made over a billion dollars and left basically nobody satisfied. The sequel trilogy ended with a thud, and Lucasfilm pivoted hard to streaming. We got The Mandalorian. We got Andor. We got The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka. Some of it was great. Some of it was deeply mediocre. All of it was on your couch.

Seven years without Star Wars on a big screen. That's the real story here — not whether the movie is good.

The Bar Is on the Floor (And That's Fine)

I know how that sounds. "Riley, are you saying we should accept mediocrity?" No. I'm saying the expectations game around Star Wars has become so toxic, so impossibly weighted, that this movie was going to get torn apart no matter what it looked like.

Favreau made The Mandalorian the most universally liked Star Wars content since Return of the Jedi. Season 1 was lean, mean, western storytelling. Season 2 nailed its landing. Season 3... existed. And now we're at the movie, which needs to do one thing: prove that Star Wars can still get butts in seats.

That's it. That's the mission.

What We're Actually Getting

From what we know: Din Djarin and Grogu get pulled into a New Republic mission involving remaining Imperial warlords. Sigourney Weaver's Colonel Ward is recruiting Mandalorians — specifically our guy — for something big. Rotta the Hutt (Jabba's son, voiced by Jeremy Allen White) is involved in what looks like the criminal underworld angle.

And then there's the Scorsese of it all. The man who famously said superhero movies aren't cinema is now literally in a Star Wars movie. Is it a stunt? Absolutely. Is it kind of genius? Also yes. Favreau convinced the greatest living American filmmaker to do a voice cameo in a movie about a space cowboy and his green baby. I can't even be mad.

The tone looks lighter than the trailers for Andor or Maul – Shadow Lord. More family-friendly. More adventure, less grit. And that's clearly deliberate — this is the movie that's supposed to bring everyone back, not just the hardcore fans.

The Real Question Nobody's Asking

Forget whether The Mandalorian and Grogu will be "good." The real question is: does theatrical Star Wars still have a purpose?

Because here's what changed since 2019. Streaming happened. Peak TV happened. Andor proved you can tell a genuinely cinematic Star Wars story in twelve episodes on Disney+. The argument for seeing this on a big screen has to be more than "it's Star Wars" — it needs to offer something your 65-inch TV can't.

From the trailers? I'm not sure it does. But I've been wrong before, and Favreau has a track record. This is the guy who turned The Lion King into a $1.6 billion movie that nobody remembers. He knows how to put people in seats. Whether he knows how to leave them with something worth remembering is the trillion-dollar question.

My Prediction

The Mandalorian and Grogu will open to $150-180 million domestic. Critics will call it "solid but safe." Audiences will love it because Grogu will do three adorable things and Pedro Pascal will shoot someone cool. The internet will fight about it for two weeks and then move on to the next thing.

And Star Wars will have proven it can still open a movie. Which, right now, matters more than making a masterpiece.

I said what I said.