Jon Favreau Reveals One Goal He Had For The Mandalorian And Grogu (And It’s Making Me Excited For His First Star Wars Movie)

Since it was first announced that the Star Wars franchise was developing The Mandalorian And Grogu as a film, I've been concerned about a particular hurdle facing the project: while Star Wars in general is known for providing spectacle, audiences have been (for lack of a better word) trained to see the adventures with the titular characters on the small screen, and I've wondered how the approach will change with the story moving to a new medium. The good news is that director Jon Favreau seems to be very aware of that special complication, and he seems to have approached it by using all of the big screen blockbuster tools at his disposal.

The official Star Wars Twitter account has posted clips from a roundtable interview with the director and stars of The Mandalorian And Grogu – specifically Jon Favreau, Pedro Pascal, Sigourney Weaver and Grogu – and it includes standout commentary from the filmmaker about the cinematic experience that he is looking to provide with his first feature in the canon. The work is going to be featured on some of the biggest screens on Earth, and he made a point of using both cutting edge technology and "classic" effects to make the movie a spectacle and an experience audiences will never forget:

Because it’s IMAX, because it’s a movie, I wanted to recapture the feeling of when I first saw Star Wars. So, when we’re making this, we were using all the technology that’s available. And then, of course, we have a lot of classic stuff.

A filmmaker trying to recapture one of the most magical experiences they ever had in a theater and imbue it into their work sounds like a rather extreme goal and one that might be impossible… but I certainly admire Jon Favreau, a die-hard Star Wars fan, for setting just a lofty target, especially because The Mandalorian And Grogu is going to need that energy. I don't think there is anybody on the planet who really expects it to recreate what it was like for audiences in 1977 to see George Lucas' grade space adventure for the first time – a film that forever changed pop culture – but even a percentage of success in that direction would be a big win.

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Still, Favreau doubled down on the sentiment, adding:

All of that is to give a whole new audience that same feeling of excitement I had the first time.

If all goes according to plan, we are now less than two months away on the 2026 movie release calendar from all experiencing that level of excitement. With a cast that includes the aforementioned Pedro Pascal and Sigourney Weaver as well as Jeremy Allen White as Rotta the Hutt, The Mandalorian And Grogu will be arriving in theaters everywhere on May 22.

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Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.

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