Just a few days ago, Lucasfilm officially announced a new Star Wars movie, The Mandalorian and Grogu. This announcement left fans wondering if the film would exist alongside the already announced fourth season of The Mandalorian which has yet to be shot, or would it be in place of the fourth season. Now, a reliable Star Wars insider has shared an interesting rumour he’s heard regarding that.
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Following the announcement of The Mandalorian and Grogu on Monday and the confusion around if it would be developed alongside the fourth season of The Mandalorian or replace it. Deadline claimed that the fourth season was still in development alongside the newly announced feature film, but there’s been no update from the trades or Lucasfilm, despite fans hoping for some clarity on the matter.
The fourth season of The Mandalorian was already written by the time of the release of The Mandalorian season three according to the series creator Jon Favreau. The fourth season was due to begin filming at the tail end of September 2023, but was indefinitely delayed due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes which ran into the Fall. I had heard in November (reported in December) that the fourth season was gearing up for a February 2024 start.
Mere days before The Mandalorian and Grogu announcement, two separate sources reached out to tell me that the situation had changed and filming was no longer planned for February. One told me a new window for filming, but the other didn’t know. I told my fellow Star Wars reporter and insider, MakingStarWars, what I had heard in hopes of maybe one of us finding some clarity, as he too heard of the February start a little after I had. Unfortunately the endeavour wasn’t fruitful and then suddenly, The Mandalorian and Grogu was announced.
As I mentioned, I’ve heard of a window, but I’m still looking into the information and seeking more confirmation, so at least for now, I won’t be sharing what I’ve heard. However, it did make me wonder if the timeframe I had heard is still for the season four of The Mandalorian and not the recently announced film as its earlier than when I expect The Mandalorian and Grogu to film, which I assume would be the Fall. And this brings us to today’s news.
MakingStarWars was answering questions from viewers on his YouTube show, when he shared what he’s heard regarding the fourth season of The Mandalorian and The Mandalorian and Grogu film both being in development. He shared that one source told him what they had heard and he took it to another which he said, “sounds really possible.” MSW added that he’s still not entirely convinced that a fourth season of The Mandalorian is still happening due to The Mandalorian and Grogu, but stressed that he did not know, but added that “there’s a lot of signs that they are though.”
Before sharing what he had heard, he stressed to his viewers that the information should be taken as a rumour despite it coming a source MSW considers to be very good. He also encouraged viewers to not misquote him, something that frequently happens to both MSW and myself by X (Twitter) users and other online mediums such as Reddit. MakingStarWars shared that one source had heard that the fourth season of The Mandalorian would not consist of eight episodes, a departure of the episode count of previous seasons, and that instead the season would consist of six episodes. The reason for this is because The Mandalorian and Grogu would replace episodes seven and eight, the final two episodes of the season had simply morphed into a feature film.
“One of the concepts has come out of this, count this as a rumour for now, is that the plan was to do six episodes of Mando [season four] and to take the finale, what would’ve been the finale, the big two parter, from the end of that and that’s being developed into the film [The Mandalorian and Grogu].” – MakingStarWars
Personally, I don’t dislike the idea. I was hoping that the film had simply become a streamlined season four, something season three of The Mandalorian would’ve benefited from, but I’m not against this concept. You’d hope that sixth episode of The Mandalorian season four is a strong enough episode to end on, making the season feel warranted and setting up a grand conclusion for the film.
Hopefully myself, MakingStarWars, or some other reliable outlet gets clarification on The Mandalorian season four situation soon.
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