Lucasfilm has often reiterated its plan for a “Mandoverse” (our term, not theirs) of shows set during the New Republic era (five years after Return of the Jedi, in this case). It is all planned to happen after The Mandalorian Season 4.
The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and Skeleton Crew are all meant to be pieces of a whole, with one series leading into or setting up the other. We’ve already seen The Mandalorian do this for Boba Fett and Ahsoka, while The Book of Boba Fett has picked up threads from The Mandalorian as well.
In Ahsoka, we’ll follow up on the warrior’s search for Grand Admiral Thrawn, a storyline first set up in season 2 of The Mandalorian. In other words, these series make up a little mini-shared universe in which all the shows communicate with one another, and we now know it’s all leading to a big crossover event in theaters.
At Star Wars Celebration 2023, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy confirmed that The Mandalorian executive producer and Ahsoka showrunner Dave Filoni will helm a movie set in the New Republic era, picking up on threads from all of these series (and perhaps even resolving a few). What shape this movie will ultimately take, and when it might actually hit theaters, remains to be seen.
Rumor on the street is that this film event is still a few years away, and probably not before The Mandalorian season 4.
The Future After The Mandalorian Season 4
But what does this big event mean for the future of The Mandalorian after season 4? Is the movie meant to be the finale of the Mandoverse as a whole?
“I don’t know if I’d call it that as such,” Filoni told IGN at Celebration. “I think of the time period now, the New Republic time period, and it’s something that has existed long before we were ever making The Mandalorian. The idea that after Return of the Jedi, there was a New Republic, and the heroes still had to defend that republic from the remnant Empire, is a very old idea that we brought into the first season of The Mandalorian because it’s what was always there.”
So, perhaps we should think of the upcoming movie more as the end of one phase of the Mandoverse that also ushers in the start of a new one? The Mandalorian showrunner Jon Favreau seemed to say as much when asked by Total Film if he saw an end in sight for the flagship Disney+ Star Wars show.
“No, I don’t – I think the beauty of this is that it’s a middle chapter of a much larger story,” he told the magazine. “And though we’ll have resolution over time with these characters, I think that how these characters fit into the larger scope and scale, but it’s not like there’s a finale that we’re building to that I have in mind.
Quite the contrary, Den Of Geek loves for these stories to go on and on. And so these characters potentially could be with us for a while, and I really love telling stories in their voice, and I love the way the adventures unfold and I’m looking forward to doing much more.”
Assuming that The Mandalorian season 4 doesn’t wrap things up in a more definitive way, Favreau seems to signal there are plenty more adventures ahead for Din and Grogu on Disney+ (and presumably on the big screen). Of course, as Yoda once said, “Always in motion is the future.” What we know for sure is that our beloved duo will get at least one more go on Disney+ before the end.
Star Wars Fans Surprised With The Ending Of The Mandalorian Season 3
In fact, the finale of The Mandalorian Season 3 ended up being quite a sweet affair, with everything pretty much wrapped up in a nice little bow. You’d honestly be forgiven for thinking this was the series finale of the entire show, given how resolute it was. And since it might be a while until we see Din and his newly-adopted son Din Grogu again, with an upcoming string of Star Wars shows like Ahsoka, Skeleton Crew, and The Acolyte on the way that may have nothing to do with the duo, perhaps it makes sense to leave them with a flourish of “happily ever after” for now?
In the exciting finale, the Mandalorians finally managed to take back their planet and Mando adopted Grogu as his son, with the wean also becoming his apprentice. Mando then took up Greef Karga’s offer of a nice little place in the sun where he could raise his lil green ward between the hush-hush New Republic bounty-hunting jobs. Meanwhile, Star Wars’ own Ship of Theseus IG-11 became the new Marshal of Nevarro, with Taika Waititi’s voice cameo noted in the credits.
Here’s how Star Wars fans reacted to The Mandalorian Season 3 finale:
