The Mandalorian and Grogu was initially widely reported to begin filming in mid-June. Reports from Collider, myself and even Din Djarin actor, Brendan Wayne, all pointed to a June start for Lucasfilm’s first Star Wars film since 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker.
June has come and gone with no updates on the start of filming. Over a week a go I reported that principal photography on the Jon Favreau flick had yet to begin despite initial plans for an official June start. The delay in filming is absolutely nothing to worry about, The Mandalorian and Grogu isn’t set to hit theatres for another twenty two months. Lucasfilm have plenty of time to make sure the script is to standard and principal photography would run around three to four months, giving the production plenty of time in post.
Reliable Star Wars insider, MakingStarWars, has offered an update on the situation on the upcoming flick via the social network, Threads. MSW, who recently shared images of sets being built for The Mandalorian and Grogu, revealed principal photography has yet to begin on the flick, though Lucasfilm did film some scenes with a limited cast, likely due to time sensitivity around certain cast members. MSW added that principal photography, what’s considered to be the more official start of filming, with occur in El Segundo in around three weeks time. You can read MSW’s full quote from Threads below.
“After confirming the set builds for The Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu have begun, I can also confirm a few scenes have already filmed with a limited cast for undisclosed reasons (probably due to cast time sensitivities).
What we usually call the start of principal photography for Star Wars: The Mandalorian will begin at the train yard in El Segundo in about 3 weeks.” – MakingStarWars via Threads
The time and talent sensitive scenes point towards actors who might be unavailable for the principal photography shoot and one name springs to mind.
Pedro Pascal, the internets daddy and leading man of The Mandalorian, is a busy fellow to say the least. Pascal started his year off by shooting scenes for The Last of Us season two in Canada in February, later arriving in New Mexico to shoot for Ari Astra’s Eddington, heading to New York to film Celine Song’s The Materialists, possibly taking part in Gladiator 2 reshoots amongst that, and finally landing in London earlier this month to begin work on The Fantastic Four which will film for the rest of 2024.
If there are time sensitive scenes that need to be filmed, Pedro Pascal fits that bill, IF, and only if, those scenes required Din Djarin to be without a helmet as the vast majority of the time, Djarin is played physically by Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder. However, I must state that this is merely my personal speculation on if Pascal was a reason for those time sensitive scenes to be filmed when they were.
Filming began on The Materialists on April 29th and concluded on June 6th. Pascal seemingly returned briefly in late June to Vancouver where The Last of Us season two is filming and was spotted alongside his series co-star, Bella Ramsey. Pascal arrived in London in the early part of this month in preparation for Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four. If Pascal were to shoot scenes for The Mandalorian and Grogu, it would’ve occurred between June 7th and June 21st. There’s also a chance that Pedro Pascal could’ve shot scenes in May as Pascal also returned to Los Angeles around May 15th and was in the area for at least around ten days before returning to New York to wrap up The Materialists.
Again, we don’t know if these more time and cast sensitive scenes involved Pedro Pascal and this is merely speculation.
The Mandalorian and Grogu is slated to debut in theatres on May 22nd, 2026. Maybe Lucasfilm will offer fans an update on the production at next months D23 event.
You can join myself and MakingStarWars to discuss the update in the YouTube link below.
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