New information regarding Season 4 of the hit Disney+ Star Wars spinoff, The Mandalorian, has come to light, and on top of offering an exciting production update, it seems to have shut down a widely believed rumor once and for all — though nothing is off the table just yet.

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When it comes to live-action Star Wars shows, Disney and Lucasfilm don’t exactly have a perfect batting average. In their efforts to expand the galaxy far, far away, many projects have failed to land with audiences, including The Book of Boba Fett and the divisive Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries. Still, with Season 2 of Tony Gilroy’s Rogue One (2016) prequel series, Andor, The Bad Batch Season 3, and other upcoming works like Skeleton Crew and The Acolyte on the horizon, on top of three recently-announced Star Wars movies, there’s no denying that it’s an excellent time to be a Star Wars fan.
With the franchise growing at a rapid pace, it’s easy to forget that back when Disney+ first launched in 2019, only one live-action Star Wars existed: The Mandalorian. Created by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, the show’s first season was somewhat of an experiment, with the story being essentially a one-off space western entirely separate from the Skywalker Saga. And it’s safe to say that no one could’ve expected just how much of a sensation it would become upon its premiere, largely thanks to the performance of its lead actor, Pedro Pascal, and his adorable charge, Grogu (AKA Baby Yoda).

Related: ‘Ahsoka’ Star Hints at New ‘Mandalorian” Spinoff Series
Four years later, the internet craze surrounding The Mandalorian hasn’t faltered one bit, with Season 2 introducing legacy characters like Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson), Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison), and even a CGI-hybrid Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) into the mix, establishing a full-on “Mando-Verse” that will culminate four different Disney+ Star Wars shows in Dave Filoni’s yet-untitled crossover movie. Until then, fans are anxiously awaiting any updates on The Mandalorian Season 4, which, like many, if not all Hollywood productions, suffered delays due to the now-resolved WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
There’s been plenty of internet chatter surrounding The Mandalorian Season 4 lately, thanks to a rumor from reputible industry insider Jeff Sneider. During an episode of his The Hot Mic podcast, the host spilled that “the odds are in its favor” for the plot points planned for the series’ fourth season to be reworked into a Star Wars movie instead. He also claimed that this hypothetical Mando project could hit theaters before Daisy Ridley’s already-announced return as Rey in Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s upcoming film.

Well, it seems like someone is crying wolf because a conflicting report from trusted Star Wars scooper The Bespin Bulletin recently cast doubt on these rumors, saying that, no, Lucasfilm will not replace a fourth season of The Mandalorian with a feature-length film. The outlet cleared up this seemingly baseless internet speculation by saying that multiple sources reached out over the weekend to reaffirm that The Mandalorian Season 4 is still a Disney+ series and not a movie. It was also added by one confidential source that the next Star Wars film will be Daisy Ridley’s Rey movie, which is looking to film sometime in 2024 at Pinewood Studios in the U.K.
The Bespin Bulletin further explained that “turning the season into a film was simply an option being considered, though it was an option Disney executives liked,” adding that a previous report from July mentioned that the option was only brainstormed in the first place “due to the strikes that were going on at the time” and that “the idea could be taken more seriously depending on how badly the production of The Mandalorian Season 4 would be impacted by the strikes.”

While some might be disappointed to learn that Din Djarin and Grogu probably won’t be making their big screen debuts anytime soon, The Bespin Bulletin did offer a positive update on The Mandalorian Season 4’s filming schedule. According to two anonymous sources, the next season of the hit Disney+ show is gearing up to start filming sometime in February, meaning it would, presumably, wrap production as early as August 2024. If this is true, we could see new episodes arrive on the streaming service in early to mid-2025.
As mentioned, the fourth season of The Mandalorian was delayed a bit due to the strikes, as it was initially scheduled to begin filming in late September of this year at Manhattan Beach Studios, California. Now that both strikes have been resolved, Lucasfilm is reportedly busy with pre-production on the series once again, as hinted at by Din Djarin stunt double, Brendan Wayne. The scripts for Season 4 have also been complete for nearly a year, with Favreau revealing that he’d finished writing new episodes before The Mandalorian Season 3 was done airing. With all of this in mind, it seems like the cast and crew are understandably eager to get to work, making a February start date seem more than likely.

Whether or not you believe the fourth season of The Mandalorian would be better off as a movie or a TV show remains up for debate, but at least we’ll be getting new Mando content somewhat soon — as long as there are no more bumps in the road. And with Ahsoka and the upcoming Skeleton Crew laying the foundation for an epic team-up in Filoni’s “Mando-Verse” crossover movie, The Mandalorian Season 4 could be the most important piece of Disney+ Star Wars content yet, meaning it’s probably a good thing that Lucasfilm is taking its time to roll out new episodes.
What future Star Wars film or TV show are you most looking forward to? Let us know in the comments below!