The Mandalorian and Grogu: Our Biggest Burning Questions After the Trailer

It’s been nearly six years since Disney released a new Star Wars movie in theaters, and finally, that drought is about to end. The studio just released the first trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu, the big-screen spinoff of the popular Disney+ series. And after watching the footage, we only have one question - what the heck is this movie actually about?

Well, maybe we have a few questions. With the trailer being light on dialogue and heavy on action, there’s a lot we still don’t know about Din Djarin’s latest mission. Let’s break down the biggest burning questions surrounding The Mandalorian and Grogu and what we actually know about the next Star Wars film.

What Mission Has The Mandalorian Been Hired For?

The trailer is really keeping its sabacc cards close to the vest here. There’s very little dialogue to be found, and only the barest hint of a plot. It’s clear that Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin, despite ending Season 3 of the series enjoying his quiet retirement on Nevarro, is taking on a new bounty and bringing little Grogu along for the ride.

Beyond that, we can only glean so much from this footage. There’s clearly a lot of action afoot, with Mando battling Stormtroopers, blowing up an AT-AT Walker, and tussling with all manner of aliens and droids. But what exactly is his mission? Why has he come out of retirement? At this point, we can only guess.

The trailer does seem to suggest that Mando’s bounty is being offered by Sigourney Weaver’s character Ward, with Weaver taking the place of the late Carl Weathers’ Greef Karga. Ward is a New Republic colonel and leader of the Adelphi Rangers, so we can assume that she’s hired Mando to carry out a mission against the Imperial Remnant. We also know that Alcatraz’s Jonathan Coyne has been cast as an Imperial warlord character.

Weaver revealed that Ward is a former Rebel pilot turned New Republic officer during an interview with IGN at Star Wars Celebration 2025, saying, “She was wearing a rebel pilot uniform, and that's how she came up. And now, of course, she's still a pilot and is one of the people working to protect the New Republic. She's actually out in the Outer Rim where there are vestiges of the Empire, so she needs someone like the Mandalorian and his faithful companion.”

Both The Mandalorian and Star Wars: Ahsoka have made it clear that, while the bulk of the New Republic’s leaders consider the Empire to no longer be a major threat, a handful of officers are aware that something fishy is afoot in the fringes of the galaxy. The Empire may be a dying animal, but it’s not dead yet, particularly with Grand Admiral Thrawn having made his return to the galaxy. Col. Ward may be relying on Mando to do what the New Republic’s army won’t, gathering intel or retrieving some important artifact or prisoner.

Along the way, it appears that Mando and Grogu will be heading to the Hutt-controlled moon of Nar Shaddaa. That extremely muscular Hutt character may be Rotta the Hutt, the son of the late Jabba, who was introduced back in the 2008 Clone Wars movie. Rotta has grown up, and he’s weirdly buff for a Hutt. Rotta is voiced by The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White in this movie.

We can’t help but be reminded of another Hutt villain, Grakkus the Hutt, a character first introduced in Marvel’s 2015 Star Wars comic. Like Rotta, Grakkus is an unusually strong and physically robust member of his species, and he runs a gladiator fighting pit whose combatants once included Luke Skywalker himself. With Grakkus in New Republic custody, it looks as though Rotta has taken over ownership of that fighting pit, and that Mando will be forced to fight for his life in the pit against both monsters and multi-armed droids.

Grakkus also has a large treasure trove of Jedi artifacts, which perhaps Rotta has also inherited. That could be why Mando has headed to Nar Shaddaa in the first place. Grakkus’ collection may house an artifact of special importance to both the Empire and the New Republic.

Finally, we see several scenes of Grogu hanging out with a group of Anzellans, the same species as The Rise of Skywalker fan-favorite Babu Frik. As far as we can tell, Grogu and his little friends are carrying out some sort of stealthy mission in the sewers of Nar Shaddaa while Mando fights for his life above. Are they trying to steal something from Rotta’s collection?

Why Is the Razor Crest Back?

One of the bigger surprises in this first trailer is the reveal that Din Djarin is once again piloting his signature ship, the Razor Crest. If you remember, the Razor Crest was a mainstay of the series in its first two seasons, at least until it was blown up by Moff Gideon’s Imperial forces near the end of Season 2. Only Mando’s indestructible beskar spear survived that explosion, and our hero eventually replaced his beloved ship with a smaller N-1 Starfighter in The Book of Boba Fett.

At some point between Season 3 and the movie, Mando acquires a new version of the Razor Crest. He’s even found a replacement pulse rifle. Is this meant to show us that Mando has been keeping busy in the time since we last saw him? Has he not actually been retired, but instead been grinding away at the bounty hunting game again? If so, he may have decided he needed a bigger ship again, as the N-1 doesn’t leave a lot of room for live captives.

Fans of the Razor Crest will no doubt be happy to see it back in action (or at least a new version of it), though some may criticize this move as just another example of the show and its feature film spinoff undoing all the consequences of Season 2’s dramatic finale. Mando has his son and his ship back, so what’s actually changed?

How Big a Role Does Zeb Have?

Zeb Orrelios may have been the only Star Wars Rebel main character not to appear in Ahsoka Season 1, but at least he showed up for a brief cameo in The Mandalorian Season 3 (and was still voiced by Steve Blum). We’re pleasantly surprised to see that Zeb will be making a return appearance in The Mandalorian and Grogu.

Will Zeb have a bigger role this time around? We certainly hope so. At the very least, the trailer makes it clear that Zeb will be taking part in the action in this movie, as we see him wielding an electrostaff and leaping to attack a Stormtrooper.

If Mando is being hired by the New Republic, we wonder if Zeb is meant to be his partner - someone to both lend a hand in battle and make sure this free agent doesn’t overstep his authority. It wouldn’t hurt for Mando to have someone other than Grogu to converse with during his new mission.

And if Zeb is back in action for this spinoff, is there a hope of other Star Wars Rebels characters stopping by? Will we see Mary Elizabeth Winstead reprise her role as Hera Syndulla? Will Agent Kallus finally make his live-action debut? Given how cameo-laden The Mandalorian has become after Season 1, we wouldn’t be at all surprised to see more nods to the animated series.

Who Is the Main Villain?

The trailer shows us that Mando and Grogu will be battling another faction of the Imperial Remnant and clashing with Rotta the Hutt. But who is the main villain of this new Star Wars adventure? Is there another Imperial warlord lurking at the end of this tangled web?

Rumors suggest that Mando will be going up against another familiar face from the Clone Wars cartoon: Embo. Embo (voiced by The Mandalorian co-creator Dave Filoni) is another skilled bounty hunter who wields a large bowcaster and his trademark big hat that serves as a weapon and shield.

Assuming these rumors are true, we sincerely doubt Embo is the true main villain of the film. He’s not exactly an evil mastermind, but simply a gun for hire who will work for anyone with deep pockets. Whatever item, person, or information Mando is trying to acquire, Embo will probably be there to oppose him. Our heroes will have to race against the clock and their rivals to reach the prize they seek.

More likely, the main villain of The Mandalorian and Grogu is another high-ranking officer in the Imperial Remnant. The Mandalorian Season 3 showed us that there are still a number of factions in play, of which Giancarlo Esposito’s Moff Gideon was only one. It’s even possible that Gideon himself has cheated death and is still conspiring against his nemesis. Gideon was wearing beskar armor when he supposedly died.

Another option is that Ward will perform a heel turn and turn out to be manipulating both Mando and the New Republic. With Weaver being the heroic face of one iconic sci-fi franchise, why not make her a villain in another?

Then there’s the Thrawn question. We know that shows like The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and The Book of Boba Fett are all building to Dave Filoni’s big crossover movie, one which will likely revolve around the recently returned Thrawn and possibly adapt the Expanded Universe novel Heir to the Empire. How much, if at all, will The Mandalorian and Grogu set up that film? Will we get any hints as to Thrawn’s future plans now that he’s escaped exile? Or is Lucasfilm looking to keep this film as standalone and accessible as possible?

Is This a Movie or a Long Episode of the TV Series?

Star Wars fans are still trying to wrap their heads around the idea that Disney is continuing the Mandalorian saga in the form of a spinoff movie rather than a more traditional Season 4. Initially, it wasn’t even clear whether The Mandalorian and Grogu was replacing Season 4, but now that seems to be the case. According to The Hollywood Reporter, scripts for a fourth season were written, but Lucasfilm opted to pivot to a film following the 2023 strikes.

It’s not out of the question that a Season 4 could still happen, but there’s been no movement on that front in recent years. The franchise’s future likely rests entirely on the box office performance of The Mandalorian and Grogu.

We assume this means director Jon Favreau adapted those existing Season 4 scripts to create this spinoff film. The question is how obvious that will be in the final product. Will this feel like a legitimate, big-budget Star Wars movie, or merely a longer episode of the show?

The trailer does leave some room for concern. If you didn’t know you were watching footage of a new Star Wars movie, you could be forgiven for thinking this literally is a trailer for The Mandalorian Season 4. Nothing about the look of the film deviates much from the show. And while the shot of Mando and Grogu blowing up an AT-AT Walker suggests a larger scope, the visual effects in that shot are rough enough that it feels more streaming TV quality than film. And honestly, how dumb is the Empire for dispatching a fleet of Walkers along a steep mountain trail?

Even the notion that The Mandalorian and Grogu has been “forged for IMAX” has us raising an eyebrow. What does that actually mean in this case? How does that affect the film’s aspect ratio and the way it was shot? Will the final product actually look as good as we expect from a live-action Star Wars film? Or, again, is it going to play like a few stitched-together TV episodes? That may be the biggest question surrounding The Mandalorian and Grogu leading up to its May 2026 release. Well, that and the question of whether anyone’s going to bother going to the movies in the same week GTA VI finally hits.

What burning questions do you have about The Mandalorian and Grogu? Who do you think the main villain will be? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.