grogu – Trekking with Dennis

The Mandalorian and Grogu: Film Review

The first section of this review is free from major narrative spoilers for The Mandalorian and Grogu and The Mandalorian Seasons 1-3. The end of the spoiler-free section is clearly marked.

It doesn’t feel like too long ago that I sat down to watch The Rise of Skywalker for the first time – the last Star Wars film I had the displeasure of sitting through. Since then, the franchise has focused on streaming, with shows airing on Disney+ that have been – in my subjective opinion, of course – more miss than hit. The Mandalorian and Grogu is Star Wars’ first trip to the movies in almost seven years… and having not really vibed with the show it serves as the final chapter of, I didn’t exactly have sky-high expectations.

At about the ninety-minute mark, I paused The Mandalorian and Grogu to go to the bathroom. And that trip was probably the most fun I had while watching the film. After The Rise of Skywalker, I’d have said that the bar for the worst Star Wars movie was so low it had melted through the floor, Chernobyl-style, deep into the basement. The best and kindest thing I can say about The Mandalorian and Grogu is that it wasn’t quite *that* bad; for all the flaws this film has, it has not eclipsed The Rise of Skywalker for the title of “worst in the franchise.” But that is hardly an achievement.

Three promo posters for The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) — Three promotional posters.

The Rise of Skywalker failed for myriad reasons, but none more so than its writer and director had absolutely no idea where to take the story or how to end it. The result was two films’ worth of plot haphazardly crammed into a single picture – one of which was desperately trying to overwrite character backstories and whole chunks of plot from The Last Jedi. This isn’t the same failing that The Mandalorian and Grogu has.

At its core, The Mandalorian and Grogu is meaningless and uninspired, desperately trying to lean into the aesthetic of Star Wars, but without seeming to really understand what made any of it work in the first place. It’s a boring, trope-laden, aggressively bland film; the cinematic equivalent of jangling keys in front of a baby. Hardcore Star Wars fans might be interested in some of the minute details and additions to the franchise’s wider lore, but the main narrative of the film just feels like fluff. The Mandalorian (the character) still feels like one of those silent protagonists from a 1980s or 1990s video game; the kind of guy who runs through a bunch of samey levels, shooting whatever moves, for the very flimsiest of reasons (that you probably had to read about in the manual).

Promo still for The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) — The title characters in a promotional still.

This was the same criticism, by the way, that I had of The Mandalorian’s first few episodes; all the way back in 2019, I described Mandy as “an emotionless helmet-wearing slab of nothing” who seemed to act not because of any discernable character trait or motivation, but at the behest of a room full of TV writers who were desperate to move the plot along. And even the word “plot” is being generous – most of The Mandalorian, as well as practically the entirety of this new cinematic adventure, feels like a series of barely-connected individual action sequences. To continue our video game analogy: these are side-quests to keep the player character busy in a title that doesn’t have enough actual narrative content to stretch for even just a couple of hours.

I don’t sit down to watch a film *hoping* to have a bad time. I paid good money to watch The Mandalorian and Grogu, and I wouldn’t have done so if I was absolutely convinced that it was going to be another stinker. I genuinely hoped that Star Wars’ latest trip to the cinema would be an improvement; that the writers had been able to come up with an ending to these characters’ stories that might’ve even made the preceding three seasons of the show feel better in hindsight. And, to be honest… I kinda feel like Star Wars is overdue for a win! The divisiveness of The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker, and several of the streaming shows has done perhaps irreparable harm to the fan community and the brand, but a new film had the potential, at least, to get everyone on the same page once again.

Behind-the-scenes photo from The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) showing director Favreau — Director Jon Favreau during production.

The version of the film I watched was advertised as “IMAX” resolution. But… it wasn’t. The film uses a variable aspect ratio, where some sequences are basically in 16:9 widescreen and others are in 2.39:1 theatrical/anamorphic – i.e. the standard you’d get for most films. This was *incredibly* jarring, especially because some scenes are incredibly short, so the film jumps from one aspect ratio to another and then back again in quick succession. If you choose to watch The Mandalorian and Grogu, I think you have the choice to disable this, effectively “cropping” those non-IMAX “IMAX” scenes and putting the entire film in a standard theatrical letterbox. I highly recommend you do that, because the not-even-properly-IMAX ratio adds absolutely nothing of consequence to any single frame.

The Mandalorian and Grogu makes use of some pretty neat physical props and puppets – something I will continue to praise the modern Star Wars franchise for, especially when compared to the janky CGI of the prequel trilogy! But for a big-budget film coming from Disney, the first Star Wars cinematic adventure in almost a decade… there were some pretty poor CGI moments in The Mandalorian and Grogu, too. If you stick with me to the spoiler-y part of the review, I’ll point out a couple of my least-favourite CGI misfires.

The Mandalorian and Grogu is not a good film. But it isn’t a total failure of storytelling or filmmaking, either. It’s just forgettable, bland fluff. No characters are memorable, no events are interesting, it relies on contrivances and tropes to move its very bare-bones story along, and it’s a film that takes basically no risks with its narrative, its characters, or its world.

With that being said, I can absolutely see The Mandalorian and Grogu being the “best film of 2026” for a very specific subset of viewers. If you absolutely *adored* The Mandalorian, its spin-offs, and its characters, the film is basically more of the same. If this slice of Star Wars has been your jam since it debuted in 2019, there’s a reasonably high chance you’ll enjoy its cinematic adaptation, too. And, hey, I hope you do! Just because the film wasn’t my speed, that doesn’t mean it won’t find support from folks who were bigger fans of the series than I ever was.

Up next, we’re going to get into spoiler territory and talk about The Mandalorian and Grogu’s story in a bit more detail. If you haven’t seen the film yet, and still want to head into it un-spoiled, I hope you’ll consider bookmarking this review and coming back later! My official recommendation, such as it is, would be to wait a few weeks until the film inevitably hits Disney+ and you can watch it less expensively. At £16 here in the UK (at time of writing), it’s a pretty tough sell, at least in my opinion.

Spoiler Warning: This is the end of the spoiler-free section. There will be spoilers for The Mandalorian and Grogu – including the film’s ending – from here on out. Spoilers are also present for Jedi: Fallen Order, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Narratively, I felt that The Mandalorian and Grogu suffered a very similar problem to parts of the show it’s based on, as well as The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi – that being that the “main story,” such as it is, isn’t really a single cohesive thing. In The Mandalorian, Mandy would get sidetracked, starting a job, then having to go somewhere else to fix his spaceship or track down a contact who’s supposed to lead him to another contact… and so on. Obi-Wan Kenobi – probably the worst piece of Star Wars media to exist, eclipsing even The Rise of Skywalker – was likewise a series of lightly-connected action set-pieces, as “Young Old Ben” left Tatooine to track down the missing Leia.

The Mandalorian and Grogu sees Mandy working for the New Republic, helping them track down some of the Empire’s remaining leaders in the aftermath of Return of the Jedi. He’s given an assignment by his nameless handler (or maybe she had a name, but she was just so bland and forgettable that I’ve forgotten it already?) to track down a faceless Imperial commander. But first, before he can do that, he has to do a favour for the Hutts, because they’ve promised information! And we’re only a few minutes into the film and we’re already starting out with this side-quest story idea.

Still frame from The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) showing the New Republic colonel — Captain Whatshername.

I genuinely feel that The Mandalorian and its cinematic sequel would’ve worked better – and perhaps even worked *well* – as a video game. These kinds of storylines can feel a lot more engaging in interactive media, where you, as a player, are in control of the protagonist. Look at one of my favourite recent Star Wars stories as an example of this: Jedi: Fallen Order. That game unfolds similarly to The Mandalorian and Grogu – you go to a planet, meet a character, start a side-mission that takes you partway to your goal, then go somewhere else and do something else, and eventually make it to the end of the story.

But what works for a video game doesn’t always work for a film. Getting sidetracked or doing barely-connected, action-packed levels is fun… *when you’re in control of the character* and when you’re part of the action. But a film doesn’t have that interactivity, so you’re stuck watching a character go through this series of loosely-connected events that just… aren’t as much fun to watch as they might’ve been to play. Perhaps writer and director Jon Favreau missed his calling; the kinds of stories he seems able to tell would just work way better if they had that interactive element.

Still frame from The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) showing a flamethrower — Mandy the Mandalorian.

In order to advance its plot, The Mandalorian and Grogu relies heavily on cut-down sequences and contrived moments. After figuring out (thanks to Jabba the Hutt’s weirdly buff son) that the crime lord he came face-to-face with a few minutes earlier is the same Imperial officer he’s meant to be arresting, Mandy and his nameless pilot/sidekick (or maybe he had a name, but he’s so bland and uninteresting that I’ve already forgotten it?) decide to launch a full-frontal assault on the man’s heavily-guarded mansion.

Do we get to see this attack being planned? Nope. Do we see the attack itself? Barely. What we get is Mandy storming in, guns ablaze, in another action sequence that’s basically the same as the film’s opening act. It just felt so incredibly rushed; something this important to the story seemed to be planned and executed in a heartbeat. And why? So we could get a car chase scene that reminded me of the one in The Rise of Skywalker? Is… is that *really* the best we can do?

Still frame from The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) showing Stormtroopers in a speeder — Aww, they’re having a nice day out at the beach. Cute.

I’ve talked about this before, but Star Wars *desperately* needs to move on from the so-called “Skywalker Saga” and the characters that inhabited it. That was one of the things I really hoped for from The Mandalorian back in 2019, when the show premiered. But The Mandalorian very quickly brought the Jedi and the Force back into play, as well as Luke Skywalker, Boba Fett, and other major characters from the past. And this time, rather than finally leaving all of that behind to tell a *unique* story, The Mandalorian and Grogu introduces us to the son of Jabba the Hutt.

To be clear, I think that Rotta the Hutt was one of the film’s more interesting characters, and the one who came perilously close to having a point and a message that went beyond “look at the shiny shiny!” There’s something fascinating, in theory, about a character who feels trapped by the legacy of an infamous parent or illustrious forebear, and wanting to strike out on one’s own is something that can be relatable. When Rotta came to realise that the crowd at the fighting pit was just as happy to jeer and chant for him to be killed as they were to cheer for his wins, that was probably the closest that The Mandalorian and Grogu managed to get to a genuinely heartfelt or emotional moment.

Still frame from The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) showing Rotta — Ever wanted to see a weirdly buff Hutt?

I also liked the idea of showing a different side to the Hutts. In practically every piece of Star Wars media, we’ve seen Hutts as nothing more than corrupt gangsters; their grotesque slug-like appearance reflecting the depravity within. So to take a member of a reviled and deliberately ugly species and give them a completely different spin and a different kind of characterisation is a good idea. It’s probably the only genuinely good idea in the film’s conception. It wasn’t executed especially well, because The Mandalorian and Grogu prioritised other things – brain-dead action set-pieces, for the most part. But I can appreciate that there was a genuinely interesting idea there, and I might even be tempted to say that I’d have liked to have seen more of Rotta’s story.

But – and here’s where the film’s overreliance on Star Wars’ past trips things up again – did Rotta have to be the son of Jabba the Hutt for this story to work? Jabba’s not a character in the film; he’s long-dead by the time these events take place. We have two Hutt characters in The Mandalorian and Grogu – the twins, who I think were introduced in either The Mandalorian or The Book of Boba Fett. Why not give Rotta a more direct connection to them and forget the name “Jabba?” Oh, that’s right: because modern Star Wars can’t escape the shadow of its original trilogy, even for a second.

Still frame from The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) showing the twins — The Hutt twins.

Capturing Commander Coin at his mansion was too quick and too easy. But so was Mandy and Rotta’s escape from the fighting pit. After realising they needed to team up, a lucky accident involving a weird electric monster of some kind short-circuited the digital fence penning in the monsters, and they all escaped into the crowd. This was… not great, let’s be honest. It’s a contrivance, but it’s such a basic one that it felt fundamentally weak and unsatisfying. This moment could have seen Mandy and Rotta realising they needed each other; that working together was going to be key to their survival and escape. Instead, the writers realised they’d got stuck in a narrative dead-end and magicked up a solution out of nowhere.

Even the lead-up to the fight was overladen with tired clichés. Mandy wants to track down Rotta, but because this is a video game story, he has to first track down “Lord Janu.” But Lord Janu, despite operating his crime syndicate out of a downtown bar, doesn’t take kindly to people… trying to do business with him? So everyone has to attack Mandy as soon as the name “Janu” is mentioned. It’s the kind of thing that, once again, you might overlook in a video game because it got you a fun boss fight, but it just doesn’t make much sense in-universe and it doesn’t work well for a film.

Still frame from The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) showing Janu — Lord Coin/Commander Janu/who even cares?

As The Mandalorian unfolded, I felt Grogu – a.k.a. Baby Yoda – was a bit of a contrivance in himself. Grogu seems to swing wildly from “helpless toddler” to “overpowered Force-wielder” depending on the needs of the individual scene or set-piece he’s currently part of, and it makes it really hard to get a read on what kind of character he’s even supposed to be. I like the idea, in theory, of someone like Mandy having a young apprentice that they have to train; that Grogu is new to all of this and still learning the ropes. But the way it’s been handled – both in the show and the film – leads to some just plain weird contradictions.

Grogu can, for instance, heal Mandy’s wounds with the Force, lift Rotta the Hutt with the Force, or use the Force to pacify a rabid dog-like animal. But he can’t handle *basic* instructions like, “no, don’t press the missile button twice.” I’m not a parent, so I don’t know exactly how young childhood development works. But to me, Grogu seems either too overpowered for his developmental stage, or too developmentally delayed given the impressive things he can do. I get that we’re dealing with an alien species that clearly ages at a different rate, but the contradictions are too extreme to make the character feel at all believable. When it was a seemingly instinctual thing – that Grogu was using the Force innately without really *intending* to do so, as in his first couple of appearances – that might’ve just about passed muster. But when he clearly has powerful abilities that he can control, his otherwise weak and helpless presentation, and his inability to do basic tasks or follow simple instructions, doesn’t make much sense.

Still frame from The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) showing Grogu — Grogu.

I will give credit to The Mandalorian and Grogu for – somehow – avoiding the worst fan theory on the internet: that Grogu is, in fact, a time-travelling Yoda. I genuinely feared that this was gonna be the way this character’s story would end; that somehow, some way, he’d *literally* turn out to be Baby Yoda. Thankfully, that was a bridge too far even for this iteration of Star Wars.

However, you could tell from the very on-the-nose, not-at-all-subtle imagery in Grogu’s sequences on the Hutt planet that the film was leaning into Yoda in a huge way. The mud hut Grogu constructs for Mandy is very similar to Yoda’s Dagobah hut, the stick he uses is reminiscent of Yoda’s own walking stick, and even the boggy, swampy setting reminded me a lot of those scenes in The Empire Strikes Back. Rather than coming across as respectful homage, though… it just felt like a blatant, shameless rip-off, done for no other reason than to say to fans, “hey! Remember how good Star Wars used to be?”

Still frame from The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) showing Grogu's hut — ‘Member how much fun Star Wars used to be?

I almost wrapped up this review without actually talking about Mandy the Mandalorian – y’know, the title character? Mandy is such a non-entity in both his own show and his own film that I literally do not know what to say about him. He wanders around, shooting and punching things for the barest of reasons, stumbling through the plot, reading all of his lines in a bland monotone, never emoting, never explaining, and just… doing nothing at all. When he got injured and poisoned and seemed on the verge of death, I didn’t think “oh no!” and I didn’t even think “good, finally we can get rid of this clown.” I just felt absolutely nothing at all; no reaction. Mandy could’ve died, and I guess the film might’ve been able to claim it had made a point about parents making sacrifices for their kids, or something – even though that isn’t really what Mandy did. But at least it would’ve been *something* – and a definitive ending for the character, given that the film is supposed to bring this chapter of Star Wars to a close.

But The Mandalorian and Grogu couldn’t even do that, of course. Gotta leave that door cracked open for a sequel for when Disney runs out of other characters to strip-mine, eh?

Mandy’s best moment arguably came when he was stripped of his helmet by the Hutt twins, robbing him of some of his honour or standing in the Mandalorian community. Except… we’ve already done this before in the series, where Mandy had a whole storyline of having to “atone” for removing his helmet. And, to cap it all off, the Hutts *gave him his fucking helmet back* all of three minutes later because… plot armour has to be literal, I guess?

Wait, that might be the wrong helmetless Mandalorian…

I mentioned earlier that some of the film’s visual effects weren’t spectacular, so let’s briefly touch on that. There were a few moments when Mandy and Grogu visited “the 90’s New York planet” (whose name I’ve already forgotten) where Disney’s fancy AR wall just wasn’t especially well-integrated into the sets around it. This is also a problem I noted in Obi-Wan Kenobi, though I would say things have slightly improved since then.

While I’ve praised The Mandalorian and Grogu for its use of physical props and puppets, CGI continues to be a weak spot for the Star Wars franchise. Several of the film’s alien monsters, especially in the fight sequence with Rotta and Mandy, didn’t look especially believable, and there were moments with Rotta himself and the other two Hutts that just weren’t at the level I’d have expected from a film with a budget well north of $150 million. There were also a few odd moments where Mandy’s alien pilot/sidekick’s mouth seemed not to move in sync with his voice lines; the same issue plagued the Hutts at several points, too.

Behind-the-scenes photo from The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) showing a scene being shot — Behind-the-scenes during production.

The Mandalorian and Grogu was a boring, uninspired film that achieved next to nothing. Its world was populated by paper-thin, intensely forgettable characters, it arranged a series of action scenes into something barely resembling a plot, and the only time it even came *close* to having something meaningful to say, it quickly dumped all of that for the next brain-dead fight sequence or lingering shot of an unimpressive CGI creature.

Unlike The Rise of Skywalker or The Phantom Menace, which stick in my memory for all the wrong reasons, The Mandalorian and Grogu is already fading. It’s just pure fluff; the absolute definition of “content for content’s sake.” The film says nothing, delivers nothing, goes nowhere, and doesn’t even introduce anything genuinely new to this long-running fictional world. I would say that The Mandalorian and Grogu will be a contender for my “worst film” award when I hand out some imaginary statuettes in December (something I do every year, so I hope you’ll join me for that!) but honestly… I’m already forgetting about the film *now*, having seen it twice in the span of just a few days. I doubt I’ll even remember it exists in four-plus months from now.

Still frame from The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) showing X-Wings — It wouldn’t be Star Wars without X-Wings, right?

I continue to hope for better things from Star Wars, but the franchise has really been on a downward trajectory for close to a decade already. Disney spent a ton of cash to buy the rights to this IP, in the full expectation that it would be a license to print money. But The Mandalorian and Grogu has been a box office bomb; the worst-performing film in the franchise to date, eclipsing even Solo: A Star Wars Story from 2018. There are fewer and fewer bright spots in Star Wars, unfortunately, and relatively few things I can say I’m genuinely looking forward to any more.

Perhaps this’ll have to be the subject of a longer essay one day, but… do you think maybe Star Wars needs another break? Novels, comics, and video games could keep the franchise alive for its hardcore fans, but maybe it’s time to take the cinematic franchise and the streaming shows and just put them on the back burner for a while until someone has a genuinely good idea for what to do and where to take things. I know that there are new Star Wars projects in various stages of production… but can you honestly say you’re *excited* for any of them? At best, I’m mildly curious to see whether the next film, the next show, or the one after that might actually bring something new to the table. The Mandalorian didn’t, and nor did its cinematic adaptation.

So that’s all for today. I didn’t enjoy this film, as you can tell! If it’s the final chapter in The Mandalorian saga, as has been promised, well… all I can say is that I hope whatever Star Wars does next will be an improvement. Thanks for checking out my review. Click or tap here to read some of my other reviews and articles about the Star Wars franchise… and may the Force be with you, I guess.

The Mandalorian and Grogu is available to stream now (for a fee) on Amazon Video, Apple TV, and other video-on-demand platforms. The Mandalorian and Grogu will likely be available to stream on Disney+ later in 2026, and will also be available on DVD/Blu-ray later in 2026. The Mandalorian Seasons 1-3 are available to stream now on Disney+. The Star Wars franchise – including The Mandalorian and Grogu and all other titles and properties discussed above – is the copyright of Lucasfilm and The Walt Disney Company. This review contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.

The Book of Boba Fett review

Thu 10.02.22Fri 11.02.22Dennis

Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, The Last Jedi, and other iterations of the Star Wars franchise.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from The Book of Boba Fett when it was unexpectedly announced at the end of The Mandalorian Season 2. I was hopeful for a new series set in the Star Wars galaxy – only the second-ever live-action TV show in this setting – but I’d also felt underwhelmed by both The Mandalorian and a slew of announcements from Disney and Lucasfilm that seemed to be relying far too heavily on Star Wars’ past at the expense of trying anything even slightly new and different.

The Book of Boba Fett was, in many ways, the nostalgia overload that I expected it would be. The show could feel, at times, like executive producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni were two Star Wars-loving kids playing with life-size action figures of their favourite characters. Whether it was Boba Fett riding a Rancor monster, Luke Skywalker building his Jedi Academy, the Mandalorian wielding a lightsaber, or characters from The Clone Wars making significant appearances, The Book of Boba Fett had this almost child-like tone that harkened back to the Star Wars adventures kids have enjoyed making up for decades.

Boba Fett riding a Rancor in the series finale.

A friend of mine (who is far smarter and more astute than I am) also noted, with a degree of disappointment, that The Book of Boba Fett had a “lighthearted Disneyfied edge” at times, with some of the show’s potentially dark themes of violence and criminality being blunted or just outright ignored in favour of creating something that would work for younger kids as well as teens and adults. And I can’t deny that – several sequences in The Book of Boba Fett could have been transposed into the most basic of Disney Channel comedy shows with barely any adaptation required.

In addition, The Book of Boba Fett relies very heavily on The Mandalorian, to such an extent that anyone who hasn’t watched the previous two seasons would be, I suspect, rather lost – especially in the final two or three episodes in which the titular Boba Fett scarcely features. There was the return of Grogu (Baby Yoda) at Luke Skywalker’s Academy, Din Djarin (Mandy) seeking out the survivors of his Mandalorian clique, the residents of Mos Pelgo and their sheriff, and even the Tatooine mechanic who found him a brand-new ship to replace the destroyed Razor Crest. Though the way in which Mandy was written into the story made a degree of sense – as I can believe he’d feel he owed something to Boba Fett after the way he helped out in The Mandalorian Season 2 – it made the final three episodes of what was only a short seven-episode season feel like the first part of The Mandalorian Season 3.

All of the pieces fell into place for The Book of Boba Fett to be a series I’d expect to find completely disappointing… but I didn’t. Even the incredibly weak, hand-wavy explanation for Boba’s survival after Return of the Jedi couldn’t dampen my enthusiasm for what was an enjoyable romp in the Star Wars galaxy, and when I would’ve expected to find myself sighing with disappointment at the overuse of classic characters and other nostalgic crutches, I found myself so immersed in what was a thoroughly engaging story that I just… didn’t. That isn’t to say that The Book of Boba Fett was “perfect,” not by any stretch. But it was fun – despite its imperfections.

It’s words like that that I’d use to describe The Book of Boba Fett. It was a series that had huge entertainment value, depicting a rip-roaring adventure across the sands of Tatooine. Perhaps it’s specifically because of the “Disneyfied” toned-down darker moments, but the show managed to have this incredibly positive, energetic atmosphere that cut through all of the nonsense and amplified the exciting and emotional moments in its story, making it a fun watch almost all the way through.

Boba with Fennec Shand and a Gamorrean guard.

I’m always a sucker for stories about outnumbered heroes, bad guys with “hearts of gold,” and heroic last stands, and The Book of Boba Fett gave me all of those things. Whether it was Boba Fett sneaking into Jabba the Hutt’s palace to steal back his ship, learning to fight like a Tusken raider in the Dune Sea of Tatooine, or the gang coming together to fight off the forces arrayed against them, The Book of Boba Fett packed these exciting and often emotional punches in just the right way for the story to be incredibly enjoyable for me.

If I look at The Book of Boba Fett with a more critical eye, there are absolutely things that I would have changed or chosen not to include. I don’t think, for example, that the sequences with Luke Skywalker and Grogu were especially satisfying when I think about them more deeply. The Mandalorian Season 2 spent basically its entire runtime getting Mandy and Grogu to attract Luke’s attention, and for Luke to then present Grogu with a binary choice – to go with Mandy or train as a Jedi – then to have that choice happen entirely off-screen, effectively rendering everything Mandy did in Season 2 pointless… it leaves a bit of a bad taste. It’s “The Rise of Skywalker problem” – where the next chapter in the story effectively undoes the big narrative moments from the chapter that preceded it.

Luke offered Grogu a choice, and he apparently came to his decision off-screen.

Also, as some fans far smarter than I am have already pointed out, it feels wrong for Luke Skywalker to offer Grogu such a choice to begin with. We don’t know how much time had passed since the events of The Mandalorian Season 2, but it could perhaps be a few weeks or a few months – a year at the very most. Grogu hadn’t spent much time there nor done much training, so for this choice to be presented to him while he’s at such a young age – and for Luke, whose entire arc in Return of the Jedi had centred around his own attachment to his father while simultaneously being a Jedi Knight – to be the one forcing this choice onto Grogu, are likewise things that feel wrong.

It feels like this side of the story was contrived in such a way as to get Grogu to leave Luke’s Jedi Academy – perhaps so he can have a role in The Mandalorian Season 3, perhaps because there’s something else going on with his character that we don’t yet know, or perhaps because the creators and producers realised that, as things stand, Grogu would almost certainly end up among Kylo Ren’s victims when he betrays Luke – something we saw in the sequel trilogy. As I remarked in my review of The Mandalorian Season 2, this makes Grogu’s whole story feel bittersweet, and given the cute critter’s huge popularity with Star Wars fans and a wider audience in general, maybe this decision was made to save him from that fate.

Was an executive decision taken to “save” Grogu from the fate of Luke’s other students?

When I took a look at The Mandalorian Season 2, I also said that Luke Skywalker felt like a story crutch for a series – and a franchise – that was too reliant on its own past and on nostalgia plays. The same could apply to The Book of Boba Fett, too. In a series that was already throwing Star Wars’ greatest hits at viewers, the inclusion of Luke Skywalker was pure fan-service. I think it worked better here having been set up in Season 2 of The Mandalorian, and thus didn’t come from nowhere in quite the same way, but I would question whether or not it was strictly necessary to have these sequences in a show that was already so intent on looking backwards.

As I watched the first couple of episodes of The Book of Boba Fett, I thought to myself that, although the reintroduction of this seemingly-dead character was itself a huge “hail Mary” nostalgia throw, at least the series would finally take Star Wars away from the Force, the Jedi, and the Skywalker family. It ultimately failed to do that, bringing all of those elements back into play, and again I just feel that this is indicative of a franchise that doesn’t really know what to do or how to act without the crutch of those safe, comfortable, familiar elements. Star Wars teases viewers with a massive galaxy to explore, but every film and series so far has returned in one way or another to the same handful of characters and the same absolutely minuscule slice of that vast, tantalising setting. I would love for Star Wars to try something genuinely new and different one day, and while I didn’t really expect that from a series based around Boba Fett, it would still have been a bold decision to cut Luke Skywalker and Grogu from the story altogether, and leave the Force behind.

*The Book of Boba Fett* relied very heavily on elements and characters from past iterations of Star Wars.

The Book of Boba Fett, perhaps because it was relatively short at a mere seven episodes, wasn’t great at communicating the passage of time. This is also a complaint I’d raised about The Mandalorian, specifically in its first season, but in this case it was made worse by the fact that we were seeing different parts of Boba’s story that seemingly took place months or years apart. From his escape from the Sarlacc and capture by the Tuskens to his acceptance of Tusken culture and raid on the train to his meeting with Fennec Shand, their raid on Jabba’s palace, and then Boba laying claim to the throne… it wasn’t at all clear how much time had passed from one sequence to the next.

At one point Boba mentioned something about “years,” but that felt like little more than clumsy exposition – and didn’t even make clear how long it had been between some of the scenes we saw. Presumably his escape from the Sarlacc and his initial capture by the Tuskens took place within hours of Return of the Jedi – but the rest of it was decidedly muddled and unclear.

It wasn’t at all clear how long Boba spent with the Tuskens… or how much time had passed between flashback sequences and the show’s present day.

So let’s talk about Boba Fett’s survival, because this was one point I was really interested in prior to the series. For almost forty years it seemed as though Boba Fett was dead. Maybe some works in the old Expanded Universe found fan-fiction nonsense that brought him back, but canonically speaking, Boba Fett was dead. That’s how I interpreted the very unambiguous scene of him falling into the Sarlacc’s maw in Return of the Jedi when I first saw it in the early ’90s – and on every subsequent viewing, come to that. Overcoming that hurdle was something that The Book of Boba Fett had to at least try to do.

In the end, the answer was pretty lame, the sequence raced through pretty quickly, and the answer to this almost-forty-year-old puzzle hand-waved away. Boba Fett survived by essentially shooting and exploding his way out, then collapsed on the sand near the Sarlacc pit. His armour was stolen by scavenging Jawas, and Boba was later rescued – or captured – by Tuskens. It was all over pretty quickly, and while I don’t necessarily feel there’s much to dispute in terms of the basic mechanics of his escape from the Sarlacc – he still had his armour and most of his weapons and explosives as he fell, after all – it was just a bit rushed. It felt like The Book of Boba Fett was trying to brush the details of his survival under the rug so it could race ahead to tell other stories.

Boba Fett’s escape from the Sarlacc was quite rushed.

In a series that generally got the feel and tone right, there were a couple of odd choices. The Twi’lek character played by comedian David Pasquesi largely felt out-of-place; an overtly comedic character in what was, for the most part, a series that didn’t seem to be trying too hard to be funny. The biker gang that Boba Fett recruited to his cause were perhaps the oddest-looking group, visually speaking, and their speeder bikes definitely looked out-of-place, being far too bright and colourful in a setting that was otherwise comprised of tans, browns, and other desert tones.

Putting these two together created what was perhaps the worst sequence in the entire series: a slow-speed comedy car chase that felt like it had been lifted out of a Disney Channel movie aimed at a pre-teen audience. Tonally speaking it was just wrong for The Book of Boba Fett, it dragged on far too long, and ultimately added nothing of substance to the show.

*The Book of Boba Fett* did not need a comedy car chase sequence.

But really, all of those points are glorified nitpicks, and didn’t really detract too much from what was a fun romp. Though there were things I would’ve changed or chosen not to include, taken as a whole package The Book of Boba Fett worked far better than I would have imagined. If you’d told me at the start that the climax of the series would’ve been Boba riding on a Rancor monster fighting alongside Mandy, a Wookie, and Baby Yoda I might not have even bothered to tune in… but the way it got to that point, and even the climactic fight itself, were just plain fun.

Visually, The Book of Boba Fett looked amazing. The CGI work used to create Luke Skywalker was so convincing on my 4K television that I honestly thought I was looking at a real person at first. The Star Wars franchise – and, to be fair, Disney in general – is setting an incredibly high standard for other streaming shows in terms of visuals and special effects, and I hope this high standard of competition will see others raise their game. I’m looking at you, Star Trek – at the very least it would be nice to start getting Star Trek episodes in 4K HDR!

So I think that’s about all I have to say about The Book of Boba Fett. It was a technically polished series with a combination of great practical and digital effects that made it look absolutely fantastic. And it’s set a very high bar for digital character work that other shows – and even films – will struggle to match. Acting performances were fantastic across the board, with everyone giving it their all. The show also had a great, somewhat understated musical score that was pitch-perfect.

Above all, though, The Book of Boba Fett was far more fun than I could have possibly expected. Somehow, a combination of individual elements that seemed on the surface to be weak or otherwise uninspiring came together to build a far better and more entertaining series than should have been possible! I had a hugely enjoyable time with The Book of Boba Fett, and it even succeeded at getting me interested – and, dare I say, even a little excited – for Season 3 of The Mandalorian, which is rumoured to be coming before the end of the year.

After feeling underwhelmed or even disappointed with some recent Star Wars projects, it was nice to be able to kick back and enjoy an exciting, action-packed romp across Tatooine with Boba Fett and his motley crew. At time of writing, a second season of the show hasn’t been confirmed – but it seems almost unfathomable to me that there won’t be more adventures with Boba and Fennec Shand.

The Book of Boba Fett is available to stream now on Disney+. The Star Wars franchise – including The Book of Boba Fett and all other properties mentioned above – is the copyright of Lucasfilm and The Walt Disney Company. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.

The Mandalorian theory – Baby Yoda

Mon 23.08.21Sun 13.11.22Dennis

Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for The Mandalorian Seasons 1-2. Further spoilers are present for Jedi: Fallen Order, Rogue One, The Last Jedi, the prequel trilogy, and the original trilogy.

Let’s get a couple of things straight right off the bat: I don’t think The Mandalorian is an especially good show, and I don’t want either of these theories to turn out to be true. In both cases the reason is pretty much the same: the Star Wars franchise as a whole, and The Mandalorian in particular, greatly overplays the nostalgia card, and were either theory I’m about to discuss prove to be true, it would represent yet another example of the show’s writers and producers being unwilling to let it stand on its own two feet.

With that caveat out of the way, I’ve got a couple of theories regarding The Mandalorian that I’ve finally decided to write down. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s come up with these concepts; it seems like it would be a pretty easy way of joining up some of the dots present in the franchise. But regardless, we’re going to talk a little about Baby Yoda – or to give him his proper name, Grogu.

Today we’re looking at the cutest little critter in Star Wars – Baby Yoda!

In Star Wars’ main canon – not including anything from the now-overwritten Expanded Universe – there have only been three members of Yoda’s species shown on screen. Yoda himself of course debuted in The Empire Strikes Back, then in The Phantom Menace we briefly met Yaddle, another Jedi Master who served on the Jedi Council. Finally we have Grogu himself, and that’s it. Of all the races and species in Star Wars, few are as mysterious and under-explored as Yoda’s species – it doesn’t even have a name.

This is odd, actually. Star Wars’ old Expanded Universe delved into the backstories of countless minor characters and background races, and while much of that has been overwritten, some elements have made their way back into canon. But even in old Expanded Universe projects that did feature members of Yoda’s species, like Knights of the Old Republic for example, we still didn’t learn anything about them – not even a name. When you consider that the Expanded Universe dived deeply into the backgrounds of races like the Quarren or the Rodians, neither of which had major characters in any of the films, for Yoda’s species to be left alone is certainly unusual. You’d think it would’ve been ripe for an Expanded Universe author to have explored at some point.

Yoda’s species has never been explored – not even in the old Expanded Universe.

The rarity of Yoda’s species also raises interesting points, one of which is connected to the two theories we’re discussing today. Every member of Yoda’s species that we meet in canon is Force-sensitive, which is already a point of interest. But the fact that the race seems to be so uncommon, and doesn’t have a known homeworld suggests that there is something strange going on. Is Yoda one of the sole survivors of his species, perhaps?

If so, perhaps Yoda – and possibly Yaddle – are the parents of Grogu. Though Yoda explained in Revenge of the Sith that for a Jedi, attachments and romantic entanglements are off-limits due to their opening up a path to the Dark Side, if he’s a member of a dead or dying species, the needs of his people may have overcome this. It would make sense that we had never met Grogu before the events of The Mandalorian, as Yoda would not have played any role in his upbringing – merely delegating that role to the Jedi Order once the infant had been conceived. This theory could also account for Yaddle’s absence after The Phantom Menace, as she may have been more involved with Grogu or even left the Jedi Order to raise him.

Yaddle was a Jedi Master during the events of *The Phantom Menace*.

This theory relies on Yoda – at well over 800 years old – becoming physically intimate with another member of his species. Sorry for giving you that particular mental image! But as we learned in The Mandalorian Season 2, Grogu’s M-count – assumed to be short for his midichlorian count – was said to be exceptionally high. This could be natural for Yoda’s species, as Yoda was said to have a high midichlorian count himself, but it could also be a genetic trait passed from parent to child. If Grogu’s parents were two Jedi Masters, that could explain his abnormally high level of midichlorians.

It could also explain Luke Skywalker’s interest in Grogu. Though it seems as though Luke would’ve been interested in recruiting any Force-sensitive child for his nascent Jedi Academy in the years after the Battle of Endor, if he knew Grogu’s true identity after conversing with the ghost of Yoda that may have given him an extra incentive to rescue the youngling. It could also explain how Ahsoka knew Grogu’s name – he didn’t communicate it to her, as she implied when she spoke with Din Djarin, but she’d already met him during her time as a Jedi apprentice.

Luke Skywalker in *The Mandalorian* Season 2.

With cloning technology featuring prominently in both The Mandalorian and The Rise of Skywalker, another possibility is that Grogu is in fact a direct clone of Yoda. As above, this would account for his unusually high level of midichlorians, but would avoid the need for Yoda to have had any role in conceiving an offspring. Though we do know that Grogu spent some time prior to Order 66 at the Jedi Temple, if he were a clone of Yoda that doesn’t mean that the Jedi played any role in his creation.

It would be possible for some nefarious faction – perhaps even the Sith themselves – to have attempted to create a clone of Yoda, hoping to turn Grogu into a powerful Dark Side user. The prequels showed us Yoda’s capabilities in much more detail; suffice to say that a Dark Side clone of Yoda would be an incredibly useful weapon for the Sith – or anyone else. Perhaps such a scheme was uncovered by the Jedi during the years prior to Order 66, and Grogu came to reside at the Jedi Temple after being rescued.

The Jedi Temple on Coruscant was Grogu’s home prior to the downfall of the Jedi Order.

Cloning would tie in thematically to points already present in The Mandalorian, as well as in the broader Star Wars franchise, so I could certainly see the story going in this direction. It would require a bit of backstory to explain who created Grogu and how he came to be rescued, but it wouldn’t be impossible to pull off from a narrative point of view. With cloning having already been introduced into the series and prominently featured, it could even be argued to make sense.

There is one more dimension to this theory, though, and it’s one that I’ve been wary of since Baby Yoda first appeared in the show in late 2019. Rather than being a child or clone of Yoda, could it be that The Mandalorian is setting up a story where Grogu is, in fact, Yoda himself?

This might sound preposterous, and if it weren’t for Star Wars’ overreliance on characters and storylines from the original trilogy I probably wouldn’t consider it a realistic possibility. But given that the franchise is intent on looking backwards, and that The Mandalorian has already brought two major characters from the original films into its narrative, nothing would surprise me any more!

So here’s another caveat: I’m not familiar with everything that happened in the animated shows The Clone Wars and Rebels. But as I understand it, time travel is possible and has been depicted in those shows. Ahsoka Tano, who appeared in Season 2 of The Mandalorian, had her life saved thanks to the intervention of a time traveller who used something referred to as the “World Between Worlds” to rescue her from certain death at the hands of Darth Vader. The World Between Worlds also showed up in last year’s Lego Star Wars Holiday Special – but I’m pretty sure that appearance is non-canon!

Could Grogu travel back in time through a portal like this one?

The point is that time travel in some form does exist within Star Wars. Not only that, but at least one character present in The Mandalorian has some experience with the World Between Worlds. Suddenly it doesn’t seem to be impossible to think that Grogu might be sent back in time – either intentionally or accidentally.

One of the tragedies of The Mandalorian – as things sit right now, anyway – is that Grogu isn’t safe with Luke Skywalker. The events of The Mandalorian occur years before the sequel trilogy, before Luke’s Jedi Order was destroyed by Kylo Ren. According to what we learned in The Last Jedi from Luke himself, the only students who survived went on to serve the Dark Side as the Knights of Ren. Grogu seems to have been too young to have joined the Dark Side, so the logical conclusion is that he was killed along with Luke’s other students.

Luke’s new Jedi Order was destroyed by Kylo Ren. All of his apprentices were killed. But was Grogu among them?

Star Wars has certainly told stories with unhappy endings before. Heck, the entire prequel trilogy was a story that led to a very dark place, with characters like Padmé ultimately dying at the end. Rogue One likewise ended with the deaths of Jyn, Cassian, and everyone else involved in the mission to steal the Death Star plans. So it wouldn’t be out of character for the franchise to go to all of this trouble to set up a story in which Grogu ultimately dies and never gets to train and become a Jedi.

However, something about the way the story has been told – particularly in the final few episodes of Season 2 that really tried hard to ramp up the emotional connection between Din Djarin and Grogu – seems to be telling me that it might not end the way we currently think. It’s certainly true that there are ways Grogu could survive the attack on Luke’s Jedi Order that don’t involve time travel, and in many ways such a story would be much easier to construct. But there are possible points in its favour – by which I mean points that seem to make this storyline at least a possibility, not points that would make it a good story!

We know that Yoda’s species are very rare in the Star Wars galaxy. It’s not impossible to think that the race could have gone extinct with the passing of Yoda and Yaddle; they may have been two of the last survivors. We also have the presence of Ahsoka Tano, whose life was saved by time travel. And finally, we know that Grogu has a way of instinctively using the Force at key moments; it’s a power that’s beyond his control in some respects, yet one he has used repeatedly to save himself and others. He’s also potentially very powerful in the Force – perhaps as powerful as Yoda.

It’s not impossible to think that, before or during the attack on Luke’s new Jedi Order, Grogu would call on the Force to help him escape Kylo and the Knights of Ren. We’ve seen a couple of different ways to open a portal to the World Between Worlds, and Grogu could summon one himself – or someone already inside the World Between Worlds might open a portal and arrive to rescue him.

Might Grogu use the Force – intentionally or accidentally – to escape from Kylo Ren?

Once in the World Between Worlds, Grogu might be sent back in time, either intentionally or accidentally, emerging 900+ years in the past. From there, it’s a short hop to joining the Jedi Order, which would still exist in this time period. Without adding anything new to Star Wars, it’s possible, based on what we already know, for Grogu to “become” Yoda.

From the moment I saw Baby Yoda in the first couple of episodes of The Mandalorian, I began to worry that this would be the character’s ultimate destination. I mentioned at the beginning that I don’t think this theory would make for an enjoyable or satisfying story, and I stand by that. The Mandalorian has been a let-down for me because of its overuse of elements from Star Wars’ past, and if its entire story were ultimately revealed to involve yet another classic character, well I just don’t think that would be to the show’s overall benefit.

From the moment “Baby Yoda” appeared I began to wonder if the show would ultimately go down this route.

This kind of time travel story also happens to be one of my least-favourite tropes of the genre: the time-loop. Grogu was saved by Luke because Luke was trained as a Jedi by Yoda, who was saved as a baby by Luke. The whole thing becomes circular, and while Star Wars has often tried to tell stories that were symmetrical or that used comparable settings and character concepts, this would be a step beyond that. It would become a paradox; how could Yoda train Luke without Luke first saving him? And how could Luke save Grogu if he hadn’t first been trained as a Jedi? There’s no solution to such a storyline, and I personally find this type of time travel narrative annoying.

Time travel, as I find myself saying all too often, is exceptionally difficult to get right. It’s far too easy for a story to trip over itself and get all tied up in knots trying to explain away inconsistencies and paradoxes. For me, the idea that Grogu might be sent back in time to become Yoda is a classic example of such a story. Even if Luke hadn’t been involved in saving his life from the Dark Troopers at the end of Season 2, I still wouldn’t want the story to go down this road – nor for Grogu to be revealed to be Yoda’s clone or offspring.

The Mandalorian teased a concept that I still find genuinely interesting: “the adventures of a gunslinger far from the reach of the New Republic.” But by bringing the Force, Boba Fett, and the Skywalker family into its storyline in significant ways, that premise hasn’t really been fulfilled – at least not yet.

Grogu’s departure at the end of Season 2 could be the soft reboot The Mandalorian needs. It could offer the series a fresh start, with Din and his companions setting off for new adventures away from the Jedi and the Skywalker family. For Star Wars this would be huge – it’s impossible to overstate how big of a deal finally breaking away from the Skywalkers and the Force would actually be. Season 3 or 4 bringing Grogu back and setting up this kind of time travel or cloning storyline would feel regressive in a series which, for me, already relies far too heavily on nostalgia for the franchise’s past.

Saying goodbye to Grogu could set the stage for new stories in Season 3 and beyond.

Shows like Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Book of Boba Fett can carry the torch for classic characters. Perhaps The Mandalorian can continue to chase down Moff Gideon, the Dark Troopers, and the cloning facility that I swear was creating Snoke. Tying the series into the sequel trilogy, not the original trilogy, would be a bold move, and might even go some way to rescuing some of the sequels’ less successful story elements.

Anyway! Those are all fantasies that may yet play out in future seasons and future stories. For now, I’ll bring this piece to a close by summarising my theories: Grogu is either a clone of Yoda, a child of Yoda, or will be sent back in time somehow in order to become Yoda himself. Even though I don’t necessarily want to see any of these theories make it to the screen, I will be very curious to see if any of the upcoming Star Wars projects give us more information about Grogu, Luke’s recreated Jedi Order, or anything else we’ve talked about today. Something tells me that Grogu’s story isn’t complete and that he won’t meet the ignominious end of being killed by Kylo and the Knights of Ren. Stay tuned, because if it turns out I’m right I’ll be sure to have something to say about that!

The Mandalorian Seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream now on Disney+. The Star Wars franchise – including The Mandalorian and all other properties mentioned above – is the copyright of Lucasfilm and The Walt Disney Company. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.