Credit: LucasfilmLucasfilm’s smash hit Star Wars series, The Mandalorian, has caught the attention of millions since its premiere on Disney+ in late 2019. The show has currently aired three seasons, with the most recent wrapping up its eight-episode run back in April. And now, following lackluster reception to Season 3, it looks like The Mandalorian might be changing courses as the studio seemingly reassess its release strategy amid the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau created a bonafide phenomenon with The Mandalorian, the show which many credit for breathing life back into the dying Star Wars franchise. Starring Pedro Pascal as the eponymous Beskar-clad bounty hunter, the series has earned Disney millions thanks to Baby Grogu merch and record-shattering viewership on its streaming service, with the most recent season crossing the one billion minutes threshold, according to statistics from Nielsen.
Still, high viewership numbers don’t always equate to positive reviews, which The Mandalorian learned the hard way after Season 3 became its worst-rated. While it’s difficult to pinpoint what exactly fans disliked about the newer episodes, some cited its messy story, distractingly formulaic structure, flashy celebrity cameos, and the emphasis on Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan Kryze, who got perhaps too much time to shine compared to Pascal’s Din Djarin.
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Either way, Season 3 was still considered a hit for Disney and Lucasfilm, with Filoni even announcing at this year’s Star Wars Celebration Europe that his “Mando-Verse” would culminate in an epic crossover movie. While a release date has yet to be confirmed, the film will connect Disney+ shows including Skeleton Crew, The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and The Book of Boba Fett.
Leading into this highly-anticipated team-up event, of course, would be Season 4 of The Mandalorian. But with the state of Hollywood looking especially grim at the moment, some are beginning to question when, or even if, we’ll see new episodes roll out on Disney+ anytime soon. Favreau has previously stated that scripts had already been written prior to the WGA strike, but Lucasfilm has yet to confirm its fourth-season renewal officially.
And according to a new report from MakingStarWars, this may be for a good reason. As Hollywood grinds to a halt and strikes push on, Disney and Lucasfilm are reportedly weighing up their options when it comes to making The Mandalorian’s fourth season—which could result in a Mando Season 4 film.
Plenty of speculation has surrounded The Mandalorian Season 4’s production since Season 3 finished airing this past spring, with scattered reports of filming and potential release dates making their rounds across the internet. But this new article claims that Lucasfilm and its parent company might be considering turning the fourth season of The Mandalorian into a cinematic event in response to the Hollywood strikes, which, if true, could explain why Lucasfilm has been so hush-hush about any movement on the series.
The report claims that if production is set back by a significant amount of time, Disney and Lucasfilm will switch tactics by making The Mandalorian Season 4 into a movie, which would allow them to produce and release the series prerequisites in a more time-efficient manner ahead of Filoni’s “Mando-Verse” crossover. Season 4 was originally set to film in late September and into the Spring of 2024, but due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, production has been delayed indefinitely.
As of now, the series creators have yet to comment on these new rumors, though the source reiterated that at this time, the plan is to still move ahead with The Mandalorian season four as a series, with turning the fourth season of The Mandalorian into a feature-length film being reserved for a worst-case scenario. If they do decide to ditch the serialized format for Mando Season 4, it also seems likely that the movie would bypass theaters in favor of releasing direct to Disney+ in more of a “TV special” format, which might not sit well with fans who will inevitably demand their usual eight hours worth of content.
In an ever-changing galaxy far, far away, it’s hard to tell what Lucasfilm and Disney will do next, especially considering that there’s no end in sight for the current WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. It’s also interesting to hear that Disney and Lucasfilm are scrambling for a timely solution to their Mandalorian dilemma, which implies that Filoni’s “Mando-Verse” is probably going to move things along a lot quicker than expected, despite Ahsoka and Skeleton Crew still not having released on Disney+.
For now, this remains pure speculation, but if these whispers are true, this could mark the beginning of a historic new age for Disney and Lucasfilm as they continue to navigate a constantly-evolving TV landscape. Only time will tell if the companies would be bold enough to make this drastic a move, which could change the entertainment industry forever.
What do you think of Disney and Lucasfilm potentially abandoning Season 4 of The Mandalorian and making it into a movie instead? Did you see this coming? Let us know in the comments below.