The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau was forced to ditch his plans for a fourth season of the hit Disney+ series when Lucasfilm decided to make The Mandalorian and Grogu instead.
Speaking to SFX magazine, Favreau revealed that his now-scrapped scripts would have featured iconic Star Wars villain Grand Admiral Thrawn, following his live-action introduction in the first season of Ahsoka.
Indeed, the next chapter of the Mandalorian TV show would also have set up Ahsoka's upcoming second season — and presumably have laid down more of the story planned to ultimately draw this era of the franchise together in Dave Filoni's planned team-up movie.
Exactly what is going to happen to this story now remains unclear, as there's been no word yet from Lucasfilm on whether The Mandalorian will ever return to Disney+ for another season — or whether the character's leap to the big screen will be permanent. Regardless, fans should not expect to sit down in theaters next month and see the same story play out.
"You can't just take those scripts and turn them into a movie," Favreau said (via GamesRadar+). "There were a lot of characters, it assumed you'd watched the whole show, and it was teeing up what was happening moving into [the second season of] Ahsoka. It was about Grand Admiral Thrawn and following the larger storyline [of this era of the Star Wars timeline].
"This is a completely different medium," Favreau continued, "so I had to start from scratch, essentially. There were certain things I wanted to pursue, like the idea of Grogu being the Mandalorian's apprentice. As long as you understand the archetypes of this hardened warrior with their vulnerable young apprentice, you'll know these characters well, even if you've never seen the show."
Despite all that, Favreau hinted that the wider story of the era may not necessarily be stuck at a standstill. "There's still a lot of Star Wars in there," he concluded. "You're going to see where things are going [in the wider universe], but that doesn't diminish from the experience of watching it as a standalone film."
So, could Thrawn still pop up in The Mandalorian & Grogu? The film's trailers so far have shown no sign of the blue Chiss villain, and the movie has been set up to feature other antagonists. With the character expected to appear in Ahsoka's next season, too, it may be that Thrawn's involvement can only be limited. But a cameo would introduce wider audiences to the character — perhaps in advance of that Filoni team-up movie still happening.
There's not long left until The Mandalorian and Grogu arrives on May 22 until we find out.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
source https://www.ign.com/articles/the-mandalorian-and-grogu-scrapped-mandalorian-season-4-scripts-with-thrawn