The debut footage for the first Star Wars movie in seven years has now been seen by fans.
Lucasfilm and Disney revealed the first-look at for The Mandalorian & Grogu, the Star Wars film spun off from Disney+’s The Mandalorian TV series, at Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo, Japan. Jon Favreau, who directed the movie and co-wrote it with Star Wars guru Dave Filoni, were on hand to introduce it.
In the action-heavy footage, the audience sees snowtroopers inside an AT-AT preparing to engage in battle. Then, in what appears to be a sort of homage to the opening of the original 1977 movie, in which Rebels prepared for, and then were massacred by, invading stormtroopers, the Mandalorian cuts open into the hull of the AT-AT, then, in one continuous take, blasts, stabs, pyros, and fights his way through the snowtroopers, making his way through the hull and then hallway, ending at the door of the cockpit, which quickly closes.
The sizzle reel also showed the mystery character played by Sigourney Weaver speaking to Mando and Grogu, reminding Mando that he works for her. Several grandly staged battle scenes followed — an AT-T falling off the side of a snowy cliff, Grogu using his powers, Grogu swimming under water. The reel concluded with a brief look at Jeremy Allen White as Rotta the Hutt, the son of the crime lord Jabba the Hutt, raising his hands in triumph in some sort of fighting arena, and then cutting to Grogu in the stands and eating what passes for the Star Wars version of popcorn.
Stars Pedro Pascal and Weaver, both of whom were received by standing ovations (Pascal’s entrance was greeted with ear-splitting screams, joined filmmaker Favreau on stage, who welcomed some small, surprisingly life-like animatronic BDX Droids to the stage.
Favreau spoke about the significance of holding this event in Japan.
“When I think about Star Wars and what inspired Star Wars, it’s so inextricably tied to Japanese cinema, Japanese culture and tradition. George Lucas was very inspired by the filmmakers of Japan and to come back here, it feels like a homecoming,” he said.
Pascal looked back at the beginning of his involvement in the franchise, recalling his first creative meeting about the project. “I’ll never forget the first day that I got to sit down with Jon and Dave in the writers room, and they showed me, wall-to-wall story illustrations of the first season of Mandalorian, without me even understanding who they expected me to play. And I remember just seeing the greatest visual storyboards that I had ever seen, and knowing that people were going to lose their minds.”
Weever noted her journey on the film began with a Zoom with Favreau, and included the director and Filoni giving her some homework: watch the TV show.
“When I watched it, I fell in love with all the characters, but especially this man,” she said, putting her hand on Pascal’s shoulder. “There’s somebody else I fell in love with. May I just say that, of course, Grogu stole my heart. And you know, I just saw him in the green room. He looks a little nervous, but I bet he’d like to come out here.”
A tiny animatronic Grogu then took the stage to rapturous applause and waved tentatively to the crowd.
There’s no official word for when the footage will be released online, but Star Wars Celebration is scheduled to be covered by ABC’s Good Morning America on Friday morning, so it’s possible the footage could drop during the telecast. If that happens, we’ll update this post with the footage, so keep checking back.
The Mandalorian & Grogu marks the first big screen effort by the franchise since 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and is expected to include characters from other Disney+ Star Wars series, such as Ahsoka and Star Wars: Rebels.
The project represents an interesting twist in Disney’s handling of the franchise. The company proved that Star Wars storylines can be successfully extended to the small screen starting with the launch of The Mandalorian in 2019. But can this also work in reverse — taking TV storylines and shifting them to a theatrical release?
Once again, Pascal reprises his role as Din Djarin, the helmet-wearing rogue Mandalorian who travels the galaxy with his adorable Jedi-powered ward, Grogu (who is known pretty much everywhere as Baby Yoda).
The cast also Jonny Coyne as an Imperial warlord. The rest of the cast has been kept under wraps.
Originally, Favreau and Filoni had done some work on a fourth season of The Mandalorian, which was delayed due to the Hollywood strikes. During this period, Disney reportedly decided to opt for a Mandalorian film instead and announced the project in January 2024.
Neither Favreau nor Filoni have said much publicly about the film. But last year at D23 Favreau said on the red carpet, “To come back together and have the scale and scope of the big screen to tell a story with characters people already know in a brand-new adventure that can … part of what we’ve set out to do is something that rewards people who have been with the show since the beginning, who have been with Star Wars since the beginning. But since we’re on the big screen, it’s an opportunity to reach out to a whole new audience with a whole new adventure and certainly with Grogu — certainly all the kids know who that is, and this is an opportunity to bring them to the theater.”
The trailer comes as Disney+ prepares to release its highly anticipated second season of another Star Wars project, Andor, which returns April 22. Other Star Wars films in development include Ford v Ferrari filmaker James Mangold’s Dawn of the Jedi movie, a new Star Wars trilogy from X-Men franchise writer Simon Kinberg, and Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy’s mysterious stand-alone Star Wars.
The Mandalorian & Grogu will be released on May 22, 2026.
