Despite the fact the last film wasn’t so brilliantly received, it’s still a big deal when a new Star Wars film hits the big screen. Seven years after The Rise of Skywalker was released to, putting it kindly, divisive reviews, the demand for Star Wars content definitely seemed to dwindle. But the one constant that people adored, no matter what the sentiment towards the sequel trilogy, was The Mandalorian. The space-western, which debuted to a little fanfare on Disney+, was a passion project for Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau that had some intrigue going into it. But the final shot of episode 1, with that little hand reaching out towards the man we would come to know as Mando shook the world, and then the era of Baby Yoda began. 7 years later, here we are, and the pair have hit the big screen in The Mandalorian and Grogu.
Bringing a TV series to theatres can present a risk, of course, because it means you need to ensure the audience knows everything that’s happened in the preceding years, or make it accessible enough for first-timers without letting down the core audience. But as the movie heads to multiplexes one week from today, first reactions have hit social media following the premiere in Hollywood on Thursday evening.
The cast includes Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us, Gladiator II) as Din Djarin/The Mandalorian, alongside Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder under the armor. Across three seasons Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica, Riddick) as Bo-Katan Kryze, Carl Weathers (Rocky, Predator) as Greef Karga, Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, The Boys) as Moff Gideon, Emily Swallow (Supernatural, The Mentalist) as the Armorer, Rosario Dawson (Unstoppable, Ahsoka) as Ahsoka Tano, and Amy Sedaris (Strangers with Candy, BoJack Horseman) as Peli Motto.
New additions for the movie include Sigourney Weaver (Alien, Avatar) as Colonel Ward, a New Republic officer, and Jeremy Allen White (The Bear, The Iron Claw) as the voice of Rotta the Hutt, the son of Jabba the Hutt. The film also features Steve Blum (Star Wars Rebels, Cowboy Bebop) returning as the voice of Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios, Jonny Coyne (The Blacklist, Preacher) as Imperial remnant leader Janu, Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon, Goodfellas) as the voice of an Ardennian shopkeeper, and Matthew Willig (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., We’re the Millers) as Hogsbreth.
Collider Exclusive · Star Wars Quiz Which Force User Are You? Light Side · Dark Side · Or Somewhere Between
The Force is not a binary. It is a spectrum — from the serene halls of the Jedi Temple to the shadowed corridors of Sith space. Ten questions will reveal where you truly fall. The Force has always known. Now you will too.
🔵Jedi Master
🟡Padawan
🔴Sith Lord
⚫Inquisitor
⚪Grey Jedi
01
What is the Force to you? Your relationship with the Force defines everything else.
02
When you feel strong emotions — anger, grief, love — what do you do? The Jedi suppress. The Sith feed. Others choose differently.
03
The Jedi Council gives you an order you disagree with. You: How you handle authority reveals your alignment.
04
You are offered forbidden knowledge that could give you enormous power. The cost is crossing a moral line. You: The dark side’s pull is never more than a choice away.
05
Your approach to training and learning is: A student’s habits become a master’s character.
06
In a duel, your lightsaber fighting style reflects: Combat is the purest expression of a Force user’s philosophy.
07
A defeated enemy lies at your feet, powerless. You: Mercy — or its absence — is the truest test of alignment.
08
The Jedi Code forbids attachment. Your honest view on love and bonds: The source of the greatest falls in the galaxy.
09
Why do you use the Force at all? What’s the point? Purpose is the difference between a knight and a weapon.
10
At the final moment — light side or dark side pulling at you — what wins? In the end, every Force user faces this moment. What does yours look like?
Your Alignment Has Been Determined Your Place in the Force
The scores below reveal how the Force sees you. Your highest number is your true alignment. Read on to understand what that means — and what it will cost you.
🔵 Jedi Master
🟡 Padawan
🔴 Sith Lord
⚫ Inquisitor
⚪ Grey Jedi
Disciplined, compassionate, and deeply attuned to the living Force, you have walked the path long enough to understand its demands — and accept them. You lead not through authority alone, but through example. You have felt the pull of the dark side and chosen otherwise, every time. That is not certainty. That is courage.
You are earnest, powerful, and brimming with potential — and you know it, which is both your greatest asset and your most dangerous flaw. You act before you think, trust your gut over your training, and sometimes confuse impatience for bravery. The Masters see something in you, though. The question isn’t whether you have what it takes — it’s whether you’ll be patient enough to find out.
You are not simply dangerous — you are certain, and that is worse. You have decided what the galaxy needs, and you have decided you are the one to deliver it. Your power is genuine and formidable, earned through sacrifice that would have broken lesser beings. But examine your victories carefully. Every Sith believed their cause was righteous. The dark side’s cruelest trick is that it agrees with you.
You were forged in fire and reshaped by those who found you at your lowest. You serve, because service gave you structure when you had none. Your allegiance is not to an ideology — it is to survival and to the master who gave you purpose. But there is something buried beneath the conditioning. The Jedi you hunt? You recognize them. Because you remember what it felt like before the choice was taken from you.
You have looked at the Jedi Code and the Sith Code and found both of them incomplete. You walk the line not out of indecision but out of conviction — you genuinely believe both extremes miss something essential. The Jedi don’t fully trust you. The Sith think you’re wasting your potential. They’re both partially right. But so are you.
Is ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ Worth Watching?
The reactions thus far have been mainly positive, but not glowing. It seems to depend what you were looking for from the film. The positive responses point to the core appeal of Din Djarin and Grogu, with their relationship being as delightful as ever, while the more mixed responses seem to suggest the jump from Disney+ to theaters may not be completely seamless.
Erik Davis said the movie was “thrilling” and “adorable,” Lula Maybelle also praised it as “a ton of fun,” while Nerds of Color described it as “bigger, bolder and more brutal.” Joshua H. Weiss went even bigger, saying the film is “exactly what you want from a summer blockbuster,” which is a fair recommendation. On the flip side, Jonathan Sim called the movie “dull, unexciting and colorless,” while Germain Lussier landed somewhere in the middle, describing it as “enjoyable but frustrating.” Andres Cabrera opined that it was a “cool action movie” but one that “doesn’t clear the bar for a Star Wars movie”, while rockmarooned was critical of Favreau, saying that, like George Lucas before him, he was “uninterested in actors and bad at dialogue.”
Edward Douglas also seemed to have a measured reaction, saying the film has “a few issues” but that Star Wars fans will love it. That will probably be the headline here to be honest, for some, the movie will be a perfect companion piece and a great theatrical experience but for others, an overlong television episode that shouldn’t be on IMAX. Collider’s Perri Nemiroff also had a fairly balanced take, while singling out composer Ludwig Göransson as the MVP of the piece.
My personal The Mandalorian and Grogu MVP? Ludwig Göransson. He’s got three Oscars now so this is probably obvious, but every production with him on the roster is SO lucky to have him. I still cannot get enough of the Mando theme and was energized over and over again as Göransson kept working it into the film. The score for the Shakari material was especially electrifying. Overall? It’s a good time! Not the most cohesive narrative, but still one brimming with creativity, charm, adventure and ample opportunities to make the most of the movie magic and cinematic spirit the Star Wars franchise affords.
The Mandalorian and Grogu opens in theaters on May 22.
