Credit: LucasfilmAhead of Lucasfilm’s long-awaited return to the big screen, a new report suggests that The Mandalorian & Grogu (2026) and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Rey (Daisy Ridley) movie (TBA) officially have titles — and from the sounds of it, they might be more important than you’d think.
Related: Hayden Christensen Apologized to Actor for ‘Star Wars’ Choice, “Sorry About How That Went”
Since Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019) crash-landed into theaters nearly five years ago, Disney and Lucasfilm have been understandably reluctant to greenlight any new movies set in the galaxy far, far away, given their turbulent past few years at the box office.
The J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson-helmed Sequel Trilogy, though a massive success financially, led many Star Wars fans to become disillusioned with the franchise, while other theatrical outings like Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) failed to draw much of any attention in the first place.
Related: ‘Sith’ Jar Jar Binks Potentially Making Official ‘Star Wars’ Debut
This led Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy to shift the IP’s focus to Disney+, which launched in late 2019. And a huge pull for subscribers came in the form of the first live-action Star Wars show, The Mandalorian. Starring Pedro Pascal as bounty hunter Din Djarin, the series has since been renewed for a second and third season, thanks mainly to mass “Baby Yoda” craze.
Of course, The Mandalorian, which was co-created by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, has endured itself to audiences in other ways, combining stellar writing with the return of legacy characters like Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson), and Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison).
All this to say that The Mandalorian has been an enormous hit for Disney+ and Lucasfilm, meaning it was somewhat unsurprising when a movie titled The Mandalorian & Grogu (2024) was announced earlier this year.
Jon Favreau has already been tapped to direct, with the film likely to pick up on plot threads introduced in the latest season. Other than that, little remains known about its story and whether or not it will replace Season 4 of the Disney+ show.
However, if a report from reliable scooper The Bespin Bulletin is to be trusted, The Mandalorian & Grogu may have just received an exciting update. According to the outlet (based on information from CosmicCircus), the working title for The Mandalorian & Grogu is Thunder Alley.
So, what is a working title exactly, and how is it different from a regular title? Well, Lucasfilm has a history of using codenames to keep its productions a secret, with some recent examples being Season 1 of Ahsoka, which went under the alias Stormcrow, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, which was known as Joshua Tree — a nod to its primary filming location.
It’s important to note that “Thunder Alley” has been mentioned in Star Wars lore before, specifically in author Michael P. Kube-McDowell’s 1996 Legends novel, Before the Storm. In this context, Thunder Alley refers to “a region of space along New Republic borders that several fleets rotated to patrol” with “the longest of the fleets without home service and shipyard services.”
Given that the “Mando-Verse,” AKA the shared universe consiting of The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, The Book of Boba Fett, and Skeleton Crew, takes place after the fall of the Galactic Empire in the generally unexplored New Republic era, Thunder Alley could be a pivotal location for Din and Grogu’s next big adventure.
But The Mandalorian & Grogu isn’t the only upcoming Star Wars movie to receive a similar update.
Per the same report, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Rey movie, which will see Ridley reprising her Sequel Trilogy role, is rumored to get the title Star Wars: A New Beginning, though the outlet seemed less sure of this information. According to the site, “this title has been rumored for many, many months and hasn’t come from anybody reliable.”
Similar to The Mandalorian & Grogu, Obaid-Chinoy’s first foray into the Star Wars universe has also left fans with perhaps more questions than answers. Based on internet rumblings, the story will pick up some indeterminable years after Rey’s final battle with Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) in The Rise of Skywalker and Kylo Ren/Ben Solo’s (Adam Driver) heroic sacrifice.
Now a Jedi Master, the title Star Wars: A New Beginning would certainly be a fitting one, considering the film will take place at the furthermost point on the Star Wars timeline this far, or 50 ABY, if speculation that it will pick up 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker ends up being true. Star Wars: New Jedi Order has also made the rounds online, though this also remains unconfirmed.
For now, take this report with a grain of salt, as both Obaid-Chinoy’s Rey movie and The Mandalorian & Grogu have yet to begin principal photography, meaning a lot can change between now and whenever the films are released in cinemas. Movie titles change all the time, after all, and working titles often aren’t revealed until after production wraps.
Regardless, with plenty of films and Disney+ TV shows in the pipeline at Lucasfilm, Star Wars fans have a lot to look forward to.
Which movie are you most excited for, Daisy Ridley’s Rey movie or The Mandalorian & Grogu? Let us know in the comments below!