The Mandalorian and Grogu | Writers: Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Noah Kloor | Director: Jon Favreau | Starring: Pedro Pascal, Jeremy Allen White, Martin Scorsese, Sigourney Weaver | All images: © Lucasfilm
It was a time of… Mopping up Imperial remnants throughout the known galaxy. Having chosen fatherhood and restored Mandalore, the Mandalorian (Mando) and his adopted son and apprentice Grogu have settled into a steady line of work: taking on assignments for the floundering New Republic. The threat of the Empire’s return is everywhere, and Mando’s more than happy to blow it up bit by bit. Things are already “messy” when he’s asked to do a favour for the Hutts in return for claiming a very important Imperial scalp. But rescuing Jabba’s son, the serially abducted Rotta the Hutt, and doing the right thing for the New Republic aren’t necessarily the same thing…
Anyone disappointed that there hasn’t been a fourth season featuring the Mandalorian and his plucky green apprentice Grogu won’t be disappointed that this feature spin-off feels just like it. Not that it’s been all that condensed–one of The Mandalorian’s major masterstrokes was taking its time to capture the feeling of Star Wars without breaking or reinventing anything.
(The show’s first masterstroke was introducing Grogu, the one-time baby Yoda, who’s now got to be the leader of Disney’s epic space saga, but more on him in a bit).
Showrunner Jon Favreau and Lucasfilm bigshot Dave Filoni bring their most successful invention to movie theatres with a consistent approach—a shift through and consolidation of lore across a pretty light bounty-filled plot that keeps the action coming. The Mando and Grogu get their moments to shine, and that’s really what we’re here for.
In the series, Favreau enjoyed ticking off some ‘I Spy’ in the vast Star Wars galaxy. Travelling to Mandalore, scaling a Sandcrawler, and sticking someone in carbonite: it was digestible cosmos-comfort-food that walked a fine line of premium streaming TV and fan service.
In The Mandalorian and Grogu, it’s business as usual. There’s a chance to catch up with the Hutts, have western shootouts with bounty hunters, speed through a dystopian neon-soaked city, and head to lightspeed (without worrying about the math like Han Solo). It’s good old space opera stuff, but it’s not monumental Star Wars.
The birth of a New Republic is an inherently scrappy time, and it’s also, well, a little repetitive and dull compared to Galactic War. We all remember when George Lucas brought his space saga back after two decades away with The Phantom Menace’s trade war (1999). The politics of the Galactic Republic, its forbears and successors, are all now part of the Star Wars myth, and The Mandalorian and Grogu feels like a further step on from the politics and soap opera that crept in to replace the original monomyth fight between good and evil. It also feels very much like it’s still on the trajectory George Lucas set.
Pinging between set-pieces, there isn’t much development in Mando and Grogu’s relationship until a prolonged moment of jeopardy gives us the Star Wars version of that Superman mantra about the father becoming the son, the son the father. By the time Grogu has taken a step forward as a Mandalorian and, more importantly, tipped back to the status quo, the film’s slightly weird structure leaves us in no doubt that the run to the credits will involve an all-out assault/rescue mission against a droid army, bounty hunters and Hutts.
It’s not a feast of comfort food, but it’s close and probably just what the franchise needs ahead of its 50th anniversary. Sit back, stick on the 3D specs (the version we’re reviewing – and it was filmed for it), and sink into Ludwig Göransson’s thrumming, stunning score.
After all, The Mandalorian is one of the great series in the age of things not much happening. In that way, it’s perfectly positioned in a part of the Star Wars timeline that struggles to live up to fan imagination and the non-canon Expanded Universe account of what happened after Darth Vader ended up on a funeral pyre.
Here, two bankable members of the franchise do just enough to break a duck and more than keep the flame of the franchise alive. It leaves us just a little bit more interested in the future of the New Republic and ready for 2027’s Star Wars: Starfighter to start a brand new era.
The Mandalorian and Grogu is out now.
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