The first day of Star Wars Celebration has come to a close and the biggest panel of the weekend, The Mandalorian and Grogu, opened things up with some exciting announcements and showed a trailer for the upcoming movie for those in attendance.
What was announced at The Mandalorian and Grogu panel at Star Wars Celebration?
Announcements at The Mandalorian and Grogu panel were pretty light and that was to be expected, to me at least. I had a conversation with some friends recently where I said that the only expectation for the panel should be about the movie it is named after and that anything else should or would be a bonus. If the title of the panel was the Lucasfilm Showcase, my expectations would be a little higher.
Dave Filoni and Kathleen Kennedy took to the stage of The Mandalorian and Grogu panel and Filoni revealed that once Celebration Japan was over, he was heading out to start filming on the second season of Ahsoka. The second season is due to begin shooting in the United Kingdom this month, as I previously reported, and could arrive on our screens later next year.
Kathleen Kennedy confirmed that Lucasfilm are still in active development on previously announced Star Wars films from Dave Filoni, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Ms. Marvel), James Mangold (A Complete Unknown) and Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok) as well as a brand new trilogy of movies from Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Dark Phoenix). There was no mention of the films from Donald Glover, Patty Jenkins or Rian Johnson.
Star Wars: Starfighter
The biggest announcement of the panel came in the form of Shawn Levy’s (Deadpool & Wolverine) untitled Star Wars film, which got a title – Star Wars: Starfighter.
Levy brought Ryan Gosling (La La Land) on stage to confirm his casting and revealed that the film would be set five years after the events of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but that the film is a standalone.
The duo unveiled the logo for the movie and announced its release date – May 28th, 2027.
The Mandalorian and Grogu trailer
Following the Starfighter reveal, we then arrived at the main course – The Mandalorian and Grogu, where Kennedy and Filoni were joined by the creator of The Mandalorian and director of the upcoming movie, Jon Favreau, as well as two of its stars, Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us) and Sigourney Weaver (Alien).
The trio shared some behind the scenes images including a look at Weaver’s character in an X-Wing pilot uniform and Pascal in the Din Djarin armour, along with one still of Djarin and Zeb.
Before they ended the panel, the gang on stage revealed that those in attendance would be getting an exclusive early look at a trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu. As of the time of writing, the trailer has not been released, though there has been some speculation that it might be released to the public today as Pascal and Weaver are to appear on Good Morning America, though I’d be very surprised if this happened.
The trailer begins inside the cockpit of an AT-AT with the officer in charge preparing his troops to engage a target that has taken down a walker. As we see Snowtroopers loading up in their armoury, Din Djarin blows open the door and runs in firing blaster bolts and begins taking out the aforementioned troopers. Djarin seemingly throws a knife of some kind at one trooper before using his flamethrower to finish the job. Din makes his way closer to the cockpit using his blaster and hand-to-hand combat skills before the door to the cockpit closes right as he’s about to enter.
We see a walker explode from the outside and watch it collapse and fall. It’s meant to make audiences think it was the AT-AT we just saw Djarin in, but I think it’s actually the walker the officer mentioned being taken out, why? Because the officer mentions that it’s walker number three that was taken down and we can see the walker that gets blown up is third in a line of walkers travelling a snowy mountain.
We then cut to Sigourney Weaver’s character sat at a desk talking to Djarin where she proclaims his work, probably on the walker assault we just witnessed, was messy…very messy, as Grogu attempts to slowly steal her candy by using the force.
We get flash of 2026 on the screen and see a quick shot of Rotta the Hutt from behind, who is buff (where have we heard that before?) and inside a gladiator area (again, where have we heard that?) before we see Sigourney Weave telling Djarin that he works for us (New Republic) before it cuts to a shot of Din and Grogu walking alongside Zeb from Star Wars: Rebels. We get flashes of Djarin fighting inside a bar or a restaurant of some kind, Grogu swimming underwater, Din and Grogu using a chicken walker and avoiding shots from walkers on a snowy planet – definitely connected to the opening scenes of the trailer and Grogu using the force to crush a mouse droid, again connected to the earlier snowy scenes. The logo appears on screen and the trailer comes to a close.
Conclusion
The trailer was better than the one Lucasfilm showed at D23 and D23 Brazil last year, but that trailer was debuted after only a handful of weeks of filming – it was a shock they had anything to show at that point. Most of the scenes are from early on in the film, as expected, I believe the snow mission is really early in the film, possibly even the opening. However, this is to be expected with the film still being thirteen months away from release.
The trailer definitely gives you the fun vibe that audiences have come to expect from Din Djarin and Grogu, though I’m still keeping my expectations muted until I see the the film myself, due to what I know the plot to be. It was also fun to see buff Rota the Hutt that I reported on four months ago in the flesh…CGI flesh, but still.
As for the other announcements. I’m not too bothered about Ahsoka season two. Not because of what the plot of the second season is, I know a lot about it and have done for months, but have chosen to stay quiet on the matter due to how far away the release of that series is, but more so because the first season seemed to get worse as it went on. I’ve hinted at what fans can expect in Ahsoka season two before and Filoni hinted at himself today when he mentioned Mortis and the Ahsoka series during the animation panel.
The Waititi, Obaid-Chinoy and Mangold movies still being in development…cool. I’ll believe it when I see it when it comes to these movies. It seems Lucasfilm is determined to give Obaid-Chinoy her Star Wars movie and are now on the third writer in hopes of cracking the story. Waititi’s movie has been in development for five years and every update we’ve ever had on it has always been that he’s struggling to crack the second act, so maybe he will in another five years. I think Mangold will now turn his attention to Dawn of the Jedi following the release of A Complete Unknown, so maybe we’ll have an update on that project come the next Celebration. And of course, Filoni’s movie will happen – I am certain of it. It’s what The Mandalorian, Ahsoka and The Mandalorian and Grogu has been building towards.
The most exciting project for me at this time is Starfighter. Not due to anything we know of the plot (we know nothing) or the title, but more so because of the talent Lucasfilm are attempting to attract to the project. Gosling is my favourite working actor these days, so his attachment is a positive, but also that they’ve offered roles to talents such as Jesse Plemons (Breaking Bad) and Mikey Madison (Anora), even if the latter did turn the role down.
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