Zeb Orrelios. Embo the bounty hunter. A super-buff Rotta the Hutt. Snowtroopers. X-Wings. Sigourney Weaver as Colonel Ward. Baby Yoda pram-jacking a turbo-powered crib from Baby Greedo. And director Martin Scorsese. Wait, what? Martin Scorsese? Like all good movie trailers, the new trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu created many more questions than it answered.
So, where do we start unpacking all this stuff? First the bottom line: the trailer looks great, which will no doubt sooth the many anxieties around this film. That’s the fans, who have been along for a bumpy ride through some good times (Andor, Ahsoka) and some not-so-good times (Solo, The Rise of Skywalker, The Acolyte).
But it is also Lucasfilm, and its parent company Disney, both of whom are navigating leadership transitions behind the scenes. At Lucasfilm, boss Kathleen Kennedy has stepped down, replaced by Mandalorian co-writer Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan, and at Disney, the succession path has been laid for boss Bob Iger to be replaced by Josh D’Amaro.
The Mandalorian, which launched on television in 2019, was the first live-action television series spun off the Star Wars franchise and is, by a long measure, its most successful. Hailed by fans and critics, it is the story of a lone bounty hunter – Din Djarin, played by Pedro Pascal – who protects a Force-sensitive child, Grogu, from remnants of the fallen Galactic Empire.
With its simple western-riffing story and setting, and its deep lean back to the origin of Star Wars, and central prominence of the planet Tatooine, The Mandalorian was embraced by the franchise’s fandom. Like Andor, its big 1977 vibes made it sparkle for OG Star Wars fans.
But as is often the commercial reality, after three seasons on Disney’s television streaming platform Disney+, the potential box office success of The Mandalorian was, like the dark side of the Force, too tempting to resist. And so Mando and Grogu are now big-screen bound, teased in a Super Bowl ad last week and now given their own full-blown trailer.
Let’s unpack it, starting with that Death Star-shaking cameo from Martin Scorsese, voicing an Ardennian fry cook, whom Mando tackles for information about Rotta the Hutt, the son of established franchise villain, Jabba the Hutt. (Who, long-time fans will know, was strangled with a chain by Princess Leia in Return of the Jedi. Up to speed yet?)
In the scene, Mando approaches the Ardennian, offering to buy information. “I’m looking for a Hutt,” Mando says. “Closed for the night, thank you!” the Ardennian replies, before slamming down the shutter. Aside from the fact that Scorsese’s voice is unmistakeable, Lucasfilm has confirmed to US media outlets that it is indeed Scorsese’s voice in the film.
The trailer also contains glimpses of characters who would only be immediately familiar to Star Wars fans who have watched the animated shows Rebels and The Clone Wars, including Zeb Orrelios, who appeared briefly in The Mandalorian, and Embo, the Kyuzo bounty hunter, who once worked for the Hutt Clans. “I like this kid!” Zeb says, referring to Grogu, and giving big time Han Solo vibes.
We also get to see Rotta the Hutt. The character, voiced by Jeremy Allen White, looks like a muscular, scarred cage fighter. And the trailer also gives us our first proper look at Colonel Ward played by Weaver. Ward is a former X-Wing pilot who now leads the New Republic’s Adelphi Rangers. In story terms, she appears to replace Bounty Hunters Guild boss Greef Karga, played by Carl Weathers, who died in 2024.
In terms of hardware, the trailer’s big reveal is the return of the Razor Crest, Din Djarin’s signature ride, blown up at the end of the show’s second season – just after we all bought the LEGO kit, no less – leaving its return still to be clearly explained. Or perhaps this is just a different ST-70 assault ship?
And in terms of tone, the trailer leans on the relationship between Mando and Grogu, the emotion centre of the story since it began on television. It also asks, for the first time, the challenging question of Grogu’s species’ long lifespan. “The kid will live centuries beyond me,” Mando says. “I won’t always be around to protect him.”
It also appears Mando will spend part of the film without his signature helmet on; keeping it on is part of the “code” of a Mandalorian warrior. That’s good news for Pedro Pascal fans, as it means he will actually be seen in the film, rather than only heard.
“Star Wars is always about progression and growth and characters evolving, sometimes for the good, sometimes for the bad,” director and co-writer Jon Favreau told Empire magazine last month. “It’s about apprenticeship, it’s about one generation teaching the next.”
So, just who is the big bad guy of the film? It’s likely that character has not yet been revealed. Filoni is developing a crossover film which will tie up story threads from The Mandalorian, Ahsoka and The Book of Boba Fett, and likely feature Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen), introduced in the finale of Ahsoka, as the villain. But that crossover film will come after a second season of Ahsoka.
Which means the big bad of The Mandalorian and Grogu, like all good Star Wars villains, has perhaps not yet stepped out of the shadows. Is Embo the film’s bad guy? Or a proxy for a bigger, badder bad? More pivots on the answer to that question than the casual observer may realise. And as long as the film does not open with the words “The dead speak!” , we’re gonna be fine. This is the way.
Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu opens in cinemas on May 21.
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Michael Idato is the culture editor-at-large of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.