'The Mandalorian and Grogu' Fan Event: 20-minutes of The Mandalorians Jump to the Big-Screen
- 3 hours ago
- 5 min read
By Dan Bremner - May 8, 2026
It's been no secret that Star Wars as a franchise has been in a fairly catastrophic state for the better part of a decade. I remain a committed Last Jedi truther, it's a genuinely great film that took bold risks and you're all simply wrong, but the Disney+ content that has reduced the galaxy far far away to an endless conveyor belt of fan service and nostalgia mining has done real damage to the brand in ways that feel increasingly difficult to recover from. The Mandalorian seasons one and two were solid, Andor was absurdly great and a genuine argument for what prestige Star Wars television could be, and everything else has ranged from deeply mediocre to actively embarrassing. The constant cycle of film announcements followed by cancellations has produced a seven year gap since the last theatrical release, which for a franchise that once felt like a permanent fixture of cinema culture is a genuinely remarkable collapse of momentum.
The return to the big screen arrives in the form of a Mandalorian spin-off with the somewhat ungainly title of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, a film that after a deeply underwhelming third season of the parent show and a series of trailers that did absolutely nothing to convince me this was anything more than Disney+ content unceremoniously dumped onto a cinema screen had done very little to move my needle in any direction. When the opportunity came up to see the first twenty minutes at an IMAX fan screening with a Q&A featuring Pedro Pascal, Jon Favreau, Sigourney Weaver, Kathleen Kennedy and the wee Grogu himself, curiosity won out over scepticism. I'm not entirely convinced by what I saw, but I am considerably less unconvinced than I was walking in, which given my expectations represents a meaningful upgrade.
The footage opens on an ice planet, all blinding white vistas and brutal cold rendered with a visual scale and polish that immediately and unambiguously announces itself as something operating at a different level from the Disney+ material. This looks like a film. On an IMAX screen the difference is stark and genuinely impressive, the cinematography has a scope and a crispness that the television aspect ratio of the show never approached, and within about thirty seconds it becomes clear that at minimum the visual ambition is entirely genuine rather than cosmetic. Whatever reservations remain about the creative direction, nobody has skimped on making this look cinematic rather than televisual.
The action sequence that dominates the opening is large scale, kinetic and considerably more involving than anything the third season mustered across its entire run. AT-ATs are destroyed with a spectacular physicality that uses the IMAX frame with scale, and crucially Grogu is significantly more embedded in the action than the show typically managed, contributing to sequences rather than simply being carried through them looking adorable (Although he still damn is). Whether this reflects a genuine creative decision to develop the character's agency or simply the requirements of a theatrical action spectacle remains to be seen across the full film, but the early evidence is encouraging. The little green menace remains absolutely irresistible and the audience around me, a room full of people, audibly lost their minds at several of his moments in ways that suggested the film knows exactly what its most valuable asset is and is deploying it accordingly.
Martin Scorsese appears in an alien cameo that was shown in the trailers and that the audience's reaction to it was one of the more genuinely delighted collective responses I've witnessed at a screening in recent memory. It is a very funny and very specific piece of casting that suggests someone involved has a better sense of humour about the whole enterprise than the trailers implied. Jeremy Allen “The Bear” White shows up as what appears to be a very ripped Hutt, which is a sentence I did not anticipate writing ever, and brings a physical presence to a role that could easily have been purely comedic that suggests his involvement is going to be considerably more interesting than a simple cameo. Sigourney Weaver's introduction involves an extended interaction with Grogu that is charming and funny and demonstrates that her casting, which seemed pleasingly strange on announcement, is going to generate exactly the kind of unexpected warmth the franchise needs.
Ludwig Göransson's score deserves its own mention because what I heard of it in twenty minutes was genuinely excellent, a synth-heavy evolution of the Mandalorian sound that feels appropriately cinematic without abandoning the electronic textures that gave the television show its distinctive sonic identity. It sits interestingly in the gap between John Williams' orchestral legacy and something newer and stranger, and if the full score maintains the quality of what was audible in this footage it's going to be one of the more interesting Star Wars soundtracks in years.
The Q&A that followed was warm and enthusiastic without being particularly revelatory. Pascal is enormously charming and clearly delighted to be bringing this to a cinema screen. Favreau spoke about the creative ambition of the theatrical transition with the conviction of someone who genuinely believes in what they've made, although the “It's for the fans” mission statement is one of the most damning things you can say about your film. Pedro Pascal is very determined that this is a film about Mando’s existential crisis, knowing that Grogu will long outlive him and preparing life without him, which is a very interesting direction if they can fully explore it. The Grogu puppet received the biggest reaction of the entire evening, which is entirely correct and appropriate.
Twenty minutes is obviously an insufficient basis for any kind of confident verdict on a full film, and the history of Star Wars projects that looked promising in early footage and then comprehensively failed to deliver the goods is long and painful. What I can say is that the visual ambition is real, the scale is genuinely cinematic, and there are enough genuinely funny and genuinely exciting moments in this footage to suggest this is at minimum a more considered and more accomplished piece of filmmaking than the third season gave any reason to expect. Whether it justifies Star Wars' return to the big screen after seven years remains a question for the full film. The first twenty minutes at least suggest someone has been paying attention to the right things. I'm more on board than I was based on the trailers at the very least.
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