How ‘The Mandalorian’ Saved Star Wars
How did a simple story about The Mandalorian and Grogu bring a legendary franchise back to the forefront and unify a fan base — for the most part?
On November 12, 2019, Star Wars entered into the Disney+ era of storytelling. The move couldn’t have happened at a better time. The Mandalorian was premiering a few weeks before Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and it was following the mixed and hostile reactions to Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Solo: A Star Wars Story. Yet for a brief time, Jon Favreau’s Space Western about a Mandalorian and a Baby Yoda was enough to unite and excite an entire fandom.
The simple yet entertaining story brought Star Wars back into the forefront of pop culture. For the most part, The Mandalorian franchise has been a positive for Lucasfilm. The series made Pedro Pascal a household name, Grogu (also known to non-Star Wars diehards as Baby Yoda) became a Disney Consumer Products juggernaut, and both Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni’s influence increased across Star Wars especially as they expanded the Mandoverse (The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, Skeleton Crew, and more potential Disney+ series & theatrical films).
The Disney+ series with a simple story and premise saved Star Wars. Truthfully if The Mandalorian doesn’t come along what would be carrying Star Wars right now? Andor? That’s two seasons and done. The sequel trilogy? Which has its faults but was constantly hammered. The Bad Batch? Animation gets a raw deal with releases. The Acolyte? I guess we have to wait and see on that. Yet, The Mandalorian brought us into the era of The New Republic, set a few years after the Return of the Jedi. A timeline that Star Wars fans have always wanted to explore. In The Mandalorian’s three seasons, the show has featured iconic characters such as Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, Ahsoka Tano, Boba Fett, and Bo-Katan. That’s not even including the spinoff series like The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka.
Despite, my opinion that The Mandalorian saved Star Wars it is worth pointing out that the series did show some cracks to some fans in season three.
The first two seasons were universally beloved but like all beloved things, the follow-ups were scrutinized and sometimes fairly so. It’s clear Boba Fett was a better idea on paper and the show didn’t execute. (Although you could argue that there was a better angle for a Boba Fett series and it didn’t need to become The Mandalorian 2.5)
The Mandalorian’s third season felt like it was servicing more storylines than it could handle, and we’ve even speculated that it was because of the cancellation of the Mandoverse spinoff Rangers of the New Republic. However, that wouldn’t explain the at times, unnecessary focus on Mandalore. It also doesn’t help the most interesting dynamics about season three were either solved in The Book of Boba Fett or were super anti-climactic (Mando and Bo-Katan should’ve had a bit more of conflict over the Darksaber, the Grogu Jedi storyline could’ve used a few more beats, and what the heck are Mando & Bo??? Friends, enemies, lovers?)
With all that being said, The Mandalorian is still a cornerstone for Star Wars and a premiere franchise for Disney. Both Lucasfilm and Disney are so confident in The Mandalorian that it’s going to be the first Star Wars film in theaters since 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. The Mandalorian & Grogu is projected to be released in May 2026.
Disney and Lucasfilm’s biggest problem has been its lack of theatrical output. Star Wars is a franchise built for the big screen. So once again can The Mandalorian save Star Wars?
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Zach Perilstein is the Editor-in-Chief of the Boardwalk Times
