Director Jon Favreau has spoken about next month’s The Mandalorian and Grogu on the big screen, and a new poster has come out that has a cool little Easter egg that original trilogy fans will get a kick out of.
The new poster, above, has Din Jarin and Grogu in the forefront; this is their new ship (Razorcrest II?), fleeing the Empire in the background. It’s a lovely bit of art, and artist Matt Ferguson said of the poster on social media: “It was a pleasure to work on key art for The Mandalorian and Grogu.
“I was inspired by the Jung art for The Empire Strikes Back, I wanted to give the poster a sense of adventure & inject a bit of Indiana Jones pulpy fun. I can’t wait to see this movie in cinemas come May 22nd.”
However, if you look closely at the ships chasing the Razorcrest II in the poster, left, OT fans will spot that they are, in fact, INT-4 Minirigs, based on the toys released in the line from The Empire Strikes Back in 1980. Now the minirigs were vehicles that were more affordable for younger fans, although they didn’t actually appear in the movies. Star Wars has a history with little nods like this, but having these in the movie would be pretty special for we older fans in the audience.
Meanwhile, in other news, on The Mandalorian and Grogu’s storyline and why this is a bigger adventure than those we saw on our TV screens, director Jon Favreau said: “At the end of Season 3, we kind of close the chapter on the big storyline that we’ve been running. There’s an indication that the Mandalorian is going to make himself available as an independent contractor.
“But now, because he’s looking after the little guy, he only wants to be working for the good guys now. And so, when we last left him, he was on his ranch, But we find out that now Colonel Ward, who’s the CEO of the Adelphi Base of the New Republic out on the Outer Rim is bringing him in to hunt down the Imperial remnants, warlords that are operating on the fringe of society.
“And these two start a brand new adventure going to new worlds and facing different threats and new creatures and stuff that we hadn’t been able to really do on the show. But having the time and the IMAX format, we were able to build these big, beautiful sets and have these great adventurous set pieces that were inspired in ways by Flash Gordon and the films that inspired Mr. George Lucas for the original trilogy.”
WATCH: Final trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu is here… and it’s actually great!
While earlier booking numbers for the movie are far from stellar, The Mandalorian was a very positive step for Star Wars after Disney took over and it was a ray of light during the dark days of covid and there’s no denying that the fans, while not so muhc towards the end, were very much on board for the first two seasons of the show, so I have a feeling that, if it can stay true to Star Wars and no bow to the nonesense that so many franchises have in recent years, it will have the fans coming in big numbers, the early word of mouth just needs to be positive enough for the fans to come along.
I’m looking forward to the movie even if Im not head over heels excited but more than anything, I want it to be good because I love Star Wars and, as the kids say these days, I need it back.
The evil Empire has fallen, and Imperial warlords remain scattered throughout the galaxy. As the fledgling New Republic works to protect everything the Rebellion fought for, they have enlisted the help of legendary Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his young apprentice Grogu (as himself).
It also stars Sigourney Weaver, Jeremy Allen White, and Jonny Coyne.
The film is directed by Jon Favreau, who is also producing alongside Kathleen Kennedy, Dave Filoni, and Ian Bryce. The film’s music is composed by Ludwig Göransson, returning to score the franchise once more.
The Mandalorian and Grogu embark on their most thrilling mission yet in Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, an all-new Star Wars adventure filmed for IMAX and opening exclusively in cinemas on 21st May 2026.
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
Nerd Comments