Is Dave Filoni's Mandoverse Thrawn Movie Still Happening? What We Know After The Mandalorian & Grogu

Published Sep 5, 2026, 11:01 PM EDT Since 2019, Kevin Erdmann has been one of Screen Rant's Senior Staff Writers, covering all kinds of Superhero and Star Wars media with Easter egg breakdowns, theory pieces, breaking news, and more. A huge Star Wars & MCU fan, Kevin also loves Batman (because he's Batman), but could talk for hours about why Nightwing is DC's greatest hero. With 8 years of total experience covering entertainment and pop culture, Kevin has gotten the chance to interview top creatives and talent, and has also attended major media events like Disney's D23 convention. Majoring in Cinema Studies with a minor in Comics and Cartoon Studies from the UofO, Kevin lives in Oregon with his wonderful wife, adorable dog, and sinister cat who is no doubt currently plotting his demise. Sign in to your ScreenRant account While there hasn't been much noise recently, Dave Filoni's crossover movie is still one of the most anticipated Star Wars projects reportedly in development. Announced years ago as the culmination of the interconnected New Republic stories being told on Disney+ and most recently on the big-screen with The Mandalorian & Grogu, Filoni's crossover sounds like it could be a major galactic event film (but is it even still happening?) Keeping that in mind, the limited details and uncertainty surrounding Dave Filoni's Star Wars movie have only become more noticeable following the release of The Mandalorian & Grogu. Not only has Lucasfilm been shifting its strategies over the last couple of years, but Dave Filoni himself is now Lucasfilm's President and Chief Creative Officer. In light of all that, it's fair to wonder whether Filoni's planned crossover is still heading toward theaters at all. However, there have been some minor updates to suggest that the Star Wars movie hasn't fully disappeared either. Here's everything we know about Dave Filoni's Star Wars crossover movie, and how it could potentially change. 4 The Latest Updates On Dave Filoni's Mandoverse Movie Custom Image by Kevin Erdmann We've known about Dave Filoni's Star Wars crossover for quite some time. First announced back at Star Wars Celebration 2023, the main thing that was revealed was that it would serve as the culmination of Lucasfilm's multiple New Republic projects like The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and The Book of Boba Fett, a major "Mandoverse" crossover. Almost immediately, the main piece of speculation was that the upcoming Ahsoka season 1 would tee up Filoni's crossover with the return of Grand Admiral Thrawn, providing the official Star Wars canon with its own adaptation of 1991's Heir to the Empire, the Legends novel from author Timothy Zahn which first introduced Thrawn, the start of a trilogy that crucially helped keep the Star Wars fandom alive between the end of the original trilogy and start of the prequels in 1999. Having already been introduced as a major threat in the animated Star Wars Rebels series before the events of A New Hope, Thrawn had been exiled for the entirety of the Galactic Civil War, with the first season of Ahsoka teasing his return. Sure enough, Ahsoka premiered just a few months after Star Wars Celebration 2023, and ended with Thrawn returning to the main Star Wars galaxy to begin rallying the Imperial Remnant under his banner, not unlike in his original Legends story. A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away · Eight Questions How Well Do You Know Star Wars? “The Force will be with you. Always.” 🗡️Jedi OrderLight-side guardians ⚡The SithRule of two ⚙️The RebellionA new hope 🪓Bounty HuntersThis is the way 👑The EmpireOrder 66 PUNCH IT! → 01 The original Star Wars film — later retitled Episode IV: A New Hope — opened in just 32 American theatres and proceeded to become the highest-grossing film of its era, redefining what summer blockbusters could be. In which year did it premiere? A1975 B1977 C1979 D1980 ✓ Correct! 1977 — specifically May 25. 20th Century Fox had so little faith in the project they only opened it in 32 theatres at first; queues quickly stretched around the block, and the film expanded to over 1,000 screens within months. It earned $307 million in its initial domestic run, won six Academy Awards (with another four nominations) and inverted Hollywood’s economics for the next 50 years. ✗ Wrong. The answer is 1977. 1975 is when the script was being shopped around. 1979 is when Star Trek: The Motion Picture released as a Star Wars-shaped countermove. 1980 is The Empire Strikes Back. The original Star Wars is May 25, 1977. NEXT → 02 A New Hope’s writer-director was a then-32-year-old American Graffiti veteran who’d struggled to get the project greenlit and famously took back-end profit and merchandising rights in lieu of a higher salary — the deal that would build a billion-dollar company. He returned to direct the prequels but stepped away from the original-trilogy sequels. Name him. ASteven Spielberg BGeorge Lucas CFrancis Ford Coppola DIrvin Kershner ✓ Correct! George Lucas. The merchandising rights he kept (because Fox didn’t value them) became the financial bedrock of Lucasfilm and the basis of the modern toys-and-licensing megabusiness. After A New Hope, Lucas produced but didn’t direct Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner) or Return of the Jedi (Richard Marquand), then directed all three prequels (1999–2005). He sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012 and stepped away from creative control of the sequels. ✗ Wrong. The answer is George Lucas. Steven Spielberg was Lucas’s close friend (and the godfather of his post-A-New-Hope career) but never directed a Star Wars film. Coppola was Lucas’s mentor at USC and at American Zoetrope. Irvin Kershner directed Empire Strikes Back. The original is Lucas’s. NEXT → 03 In 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader delivers cinema’s most-misquoted line at the climax of his Cloud City duel with Luke Skywalker. Vader severs Luke’s hand and reveals their relationship. The exact line is — for the record — “No, I am your father.” What relationship does it confirm? AVader is Luke’s uncle BVader is Luke’s father (Anakin Skywalker) CVader is Obi-Wan’s brother DVader is Han’s father ✓ Correct! Vader is Anakin Skywalker, Luke’s father. The reveal was so jealously guarded that Mark Hamill was only told the real line on set the day they shot it (the script said “Obi-Wan killed your father”), and even James Earl Jones recorded the dub without knowing the full plot context. The line — commonly misquoted as “Luke, I am your father” — rewrote what trilogies could pull off and is broadly considered cinema’s most famous twist. ✗ Wrong. The answer is that Vader is Luke’s father, Anakin Skywalker. The whole foundation of the Skywalker saga collapses to this single twist: Anakin (the Jedi prodigy of the prequels) becomes Vader after his fall. Luke and Leia are revealed in Return of the Jedi to be his twin children, separated at birth. NEXT → 04 Yoda — the green, ear-twitching Jedi Master — was puppeted and voiced from his Empire Strikes Back debut through the prequels and the sequels by a single Muppet-show-veteran performer who also voices Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear. Name him. AJim Henson BFrank Oz CSteve Whitmire DBrian Henson ✓ Correct! Frank Oz — longtime Jim Henson collaborator and voice/puppet work on Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam Eagle and Grover. Oz puppeted Yoda directly through The Phantom Menace before CGI took over for Attack of the Clones onward, but he’s continued to voice the character through the sequels and animated series. Yoda’s syntax was developed jointly by Lucas and Oz to feel old, foreign and hard-won. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Frank Oz. Jim Henson was Oz’s mentor and collaborator (he created the Muppets) but didn’t voice Yoda. Steve Whitmire took over Kermit after Henson’s 1990 death. Brian Henson is Jim’s son and runs the Henson company today. Yoda is Frank Oz’s. NEXT → 05 In a deal that reshaped Hollywood, Disney acquired Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion in cash and stock — bringing Star Wars, Indiana Jones, ILM and Skywalker Sound under the Disney umbrella. The deal also kicked off the sequel trilogy production. In what year did Disney close the acquisition? A2009 B2010 C2012 D2014 ✓ Correct! 2012 — specifically October 30. The deal was announced with simultaneous reveal that a Star Wars Episode VII was being developed for a 2015 release. Lucas had been quietly preparing his exit from Lucasfilm for years; Kathleen Kennedy had been brought in as co-chair months earlier specifically to take over. The Force Awakens came out three years later, in December 2015, kicking off the modern era. ✗ Wrong. The answer is 2012. 2009 is when Disney acquired Marvel ($4 billion). 2010 is the year before Lucas began signalling exit plans. 2014 is when production proper began on The Force Awakens. Lucasfilm joined Disney on October 30, 2012. NEXT → 06 The Mandalorian launched as Disney+’s flagship original on November 12, 2019 — the day the streaming service itself launched. Created by Jon Favreau and run by Dave Filoni, the show centres on a helmeted bounty hunter who reluctantly becomes a foster father to “The Child” (Grogu). What is the Mandalorian’s real name? ABoba Fett BCobb Vanth CDin Djarin DBo-Katan Kryze ✓ Correct! Din Djarin — played by Pedro Pascal under the helmet (with body double Brendan Wayne handling much of the physical work). The Mandalorian is widely credited with reviving Star Wars on TV, popularising the StageCraft LED-volume virtual production technology now used across Hollywood, and turning baby Yoda — Grogu — into the meme-economy phenomenon of late 2019. Three seasons have aired with a feature film, The Mandalorian & Grogu, set for May 2026. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Din Djarin. Boba Fett is the famous bounty hunter from the original trilogy, with his own Disney+ spinoff (The Book of Boba Fett, 2021). Cobb Vanth is the Tatooine marshal played by Timothy Olyphant. Bo-Katan Kryze is the Mandalorian princess played by Katee Sackhoff. The Mandalorian himself is Din Djarin. NEXT → 07 Order 66 — the secret directive that turns the Republic’s clone troopers against their Jedi commanders and effectively ends the Jedi Order — is dramatised in the climactic third act of which prequel film? AEpisode I: The Phantom Menace BEpisode II: Attack of the Clones CEpisode III: Revenge of the Sith DRogue One ✓ Correct! Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). Palpatine’s “Execute Order 66” comm to the clone armies leads to the methodical, planet-by-planet liquidation of the Jedi Order — one of the saga’s most operatic sequences, scored to John Williams’ “Anakin’s Betrayal” cue. The same film features Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side, the Mustafar duel with Obi-Wan, and his rebirth as Darth Vader in the suit. Widely re-evaluated as the best of the prequels. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Revenge of the Sith. Phantom Menace ends with Qui-Gon’s death and the unveiling of Darth Maul. Attack of the Clones ends with the Clone Wars beginning. Rogue One is set just before A New Hope, after Order 66 has long since happened. The Order 66 sequence is the climax of Episode III. NEXT → 08 Andor (2022–25) is widely regarded as the most adult, politically literate Star Wars project ever made — a slow-burn prequel to Rogue One charting Cassian Andor’s radicalisation against the Empire. The series was created and showrun by a writer/director best known for the original Bourne trilogy and Michael Clayton. Name him. ATony Gilroy BRian Johnson CJon Favreau DDave Filoni ✓ Correct! Tony Gilroy. He’d previously been brought in for extensive Rogue One reshoots in 2016, and Lucasfilm gave him near-total creative independence on Andor. Season 1 (12 episodes, 2022) is widely regarded as Star Wars’ finest dramatic writing ever; Season 2 (also 12 episodes, in four three-episode jumps across 2025) closes the gap to Rogue One’s opening scene. Gilroy’s prior credits: Bourne Identity / Supremacy / Ultimatum / Legacy, plus directing Michael Clayton (2007). ✗ Wrong. The answer is Tony Gilroy. Rian Johnson directed The Last Jedi (2017). Jon Favreau created The Mandalorian and is Lucasfilm’s Disney+-era animation/live-action lieutenant. Dave Filoni runs the Filoniverse (Clone Wars, Rebels, Ahsoka, the upcoming Heir to the Empire film). Andor is Tony Gilroy’s. REVEAL MY RATING → The Force Has Spoken · Final Tally Your Galactic Standing 🗡️ / 8 Jedi Master — or moisture farmer on Tatooine? ⤴ ANOTHER GO Since then, there's been very little word or concrete updates about the movie's status, its release date, or official cast. However, one can imagine there will be a core alliance of all the major New Republic heroes like Din Djarin, Grogu, Ahsoka Tano, Boba Fett, and the Spectres (Sabine Wren, Hera Syndulla, Ezra Bridger, and Zeb Orrelios). That being said, the latest issue of Production Weekly just provided a new description for Filoni's untitled Star Wars project, as well as the New Jedi Order movie with Daisy Ridley reprising her role as Rey Skywalker. Ultimately, this new description doesn't feature anything new: “The story will focus on the New Republic and will conclude the interconnected narratives told in The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and other Disney+ series.” If anything, the importance here is that it's the most substantial update we've seen in forever (and that the project is actually still alive). 3 Dave Filoni's Thrawn Movie Plans Could Change After The Mandalorian & Grogu's Box Office There is one key factor that could change the project Lucasfilm first announced back in 2023: The Mandalorian & Grogu's underwhelming box-office performance. Pivoting from the fourth season of The Mandalorian to a full theatrical film starring Din Djarin and his adopted son, the 2026 movie reportedly made around $345 million worldwide...the lowest any Star Wars movie has ever earned. However, it also has the smallest budget of any Star Wars movie, meaning the smaller haul isn't as devastating as it appears. That said, the less-than-stellar result could still shape how Disney and Lucasfilm may view the potential of Disney+ characters transitioning to the big screen going forward. That said, an Avengers-style Star Wars movie already sounds like it'd be far more worthy of a theatrical outing than The Mandalorian & Grogu's plot. Nevertheless, it still feels possible that Lucasfilm may decide to go the other way and pivot Filoni's crossover movie as a limited event on Disney+ instead. It's also worth noting that Filoni himself will no doubt have even more of a prominent voice over what his movie looks like and what form it will ultimately take given his increased leadership role at Lucasfilm. 2 Is Ahsoka Season 2 Telling The Same Story As The Planned Mandoverse Movie? It's also worth entertaining the possibility that Filoni has already incorporated portions of his planned Thrawn storyline into Ahsoka season 2. After all, the upcoming season appears to be significantly escalating the conflict surrounding Thrawn, featuring the Grand Admiral's return to the main galaxy as he prepares to wage war against the New Republic. That alone resembles Heir to the Empire quite well. As Thrawn is shown rallying Imperial Remnant forces to restore the Empire in this first trailer, we also see major New Republic characters having central roles in the conflict as well. Likewise, Filoni has also confirmed that Admiral Ackbar himself will be going head-to-head with Thrawn in a major space battle, directly inspired by the events of Timothy Zahn's original novels. That said, the events being teased for Ahsoka season 2 don't necessarily mean the planned crossover movie is obsolete, instead functioning as major setup, perhaps even more than the first season. It's pretty easy to imagine Thrawn beginning his campaign in Ahsoka season 2 before the story expands into an even larger galactic conflict involving Din Djarin, Grogu, Boba Fett, and other key New Republic heroes (fingers crossed for Luke Skywalker and Rotta the Hutt). 1 How The Heir To The Empire Movie Could Still Happen Even if Dave Filoni's project doesn't arrive in theaters as originally envisioned, there are plenty of ways to preserve the core idea in the future of the Star Wars franchise. As previously mentioned, there's the limited event series idea following Ahsoka season 2, allowing all the New Republic projects to have a major television finale. Aside from The Mandalorian & Grogu, they were all streaming series anyway, so it's not the craziest idea. Furthermore, nothing says a pivot couldn't come in the form of a potential Ahsoka season 3 either. For now, the safest conclusion is that Filoni's Mandoverse movie is still alive in some form. Whether it happens in theaters or on Disney+, the New Republic is more than likely still heading toward a major final confrontation with Grand Admiral Thrawn. The Mandalorian & Grogu is now streaming on Disney+ from Lucasfilm. Release Date May 20, 2026 Runtime 132 minutes Director Jon Favreau Writers Noah Kloor Producers Ian Bryce, Kathleen Kennedy, Dave Filoni, Karen Gilchrist, John Bartnicki Prequel(s) The Mandalorian Sequel(s) Dave Filoni's Untitled Mandalorian Movie Franchise(s) Star Wars