Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu is finding new life on streaming, and with that comes some major realizations of how the new Star Wars movie turned out to be. Pedro Pascal’s The Mandalorian is one of Disney+’s biggest TV shows, and it continues to trend high on the streamer even three years after its last episode was released.
That gave Disney and Lucasfilm the idea of changing formats, picking up Din Djarin and Grogu and putting them on the big screen. As such, the fan-favorite characters were used to continue the Star Wars movie franchise with its first release in seven years. Due to that, there was a lot of anticipation built for the new Star Wars movie, and that came with high expectations.
Sadly, Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu ended up only grossing $345.8 million worldwide against a reported budget of $165 million, which barely put it in the needed breakeven range when accounting for marketing and other expenses. Additionally, the 2026 Star Wars movie only holds a decent 60% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes after 330 reviews, though it has a high 86% audience score.
After its disappointing theatrical run, Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu was released on Disney+ on September 2. The space opera instantly became a global streaming sensation. Right now, The Mandalorian and Grogu is Disney+’s most-watched movie worldwide, according to FlixPatrol. That means that many Disney+ subscribers are rewatching the Star Wars movie alongside first-time viewers, and those seeing it again might come to some harsh realizations about Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, which include:
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The Star Wars Movie Could Have Been A Couple Of TV Show Episodes
The earliest realization one might have when rewatching Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu on Disney+ is that the sci-fi movie’s biggest criticism was right. In honesty, there is nothing that happens in the movie that feels like it specifically asked for the big screen. The Mandalorian and Grogu‘s plot could have worked as a two to three-episode arc on the Disney+ series.
You only needed an episode to set up where Din Djarin and Grogu are now, in terms of working for the New Republic, with the same action beats in the movie and ending with the reveal that the target is Rotta the Hutt. Then an episode on the gladiator planet, with the final one to end the arc on Nal Hutta against the twins. The movie just felt like a standard mission from the series.
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The Mandalorian And Grogu Does Not Have A Compelling Main Villain
Movies are only really as compelling as their villains. If you put a fan-favorite hero in a film where the main threat does not live up to the challenge, then the whole thing falls apart. In Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, there are three key villains. A smaller one comes in the form of the bounty hunter Embo, who works well for an intense sequence.
However, the Star Wars movie’s main villains are the Hutts. Sadly, they are not really in much of the movie to make a mark, and when they do appear, the characters lack the needed complexity to make them stand out. Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu uses its villains simply as action figures to bash against Mando and Rotta, in entertaining fashion, I might say, but in shallow form.
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Star Wars Needed An Epic Story For Its First Movie In 7 Years
More so than The Mandalorian and Grogu feeling like TV episodes stretched out and stitched together on the big screen, the movie’s story needed to have an epic scope to serve as the return to Star Wars on the big screen fans were waiting for. After all, the franchise’s last entry was Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker back in 2019.
While not the best Star Wars movie, it still had an epic scope, with incredibly high-stakes, shocking deaths, and more. Instead of taking a case-of-the-week approach for Star Wars’ cinematic return, The Mandalorian and Grogu should have been the big Mandoverse crossover movie Dave Filoni is developing, even if that meant waiting a little longer.
5
Disney Played It Safe With Star Wars Again
Disney has been accused of playing it too safe with the Star Wars franchise. After The Last Jedi pushed the Skywalker Saga into a bold new direction, J. J. Abrams walked back on most of that instantly with The Rise of Skywalker. In the years since, several returning characters in cameo roles, flashbacks, and more have kept nostalgia at the forefront of Star Wars’ TV shows.
Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu is guilty of playing with those same elements through a few characters’ returns and cameos. Additionally, no one felt like Pascal’s Din Djarin was in any danger of actually dying in the film. Yet there was The Mandalorian and Grogu trying to give off that impression, only for Mando to be alive and well, obviously. Finally, at the end of the movie, the characters had not really changed, the status quo remained intact.
4
Rotta The Hutt’s Voice Stripped Away Jeremy Allen White’s Performance
Listen, Rotta the Hutt is a charismatic character with funny moments and I felt his introduction led to a charming dynamic with Mando and Grogu. However, it is hard to ignore the fact that there was barely any of Jeremy Allen White left in that performance. The character’s voice was completely unrecognizable.
Not only that, but it sounded like a robotic monotone, stripping it of the nuances and intensity we know from projects like The Bear that White can bring. You could virtually put any actor in as Rotta and the role would likely go along the same lines. This aspect of the Star Wars movie is even more disappointing on a rewatch, as the novelty of the Rotta character and voice has worn off.
3
There Is Too Little Pedro Pascal In The Star Wars Movie
This is not a massive surprise for anyone who watched The Mandalorian, as Pascal does not stay without the helmet for too long in the Disney+ Star Wars series for character reasons. However, with a move to theaters, having the actor actually emote and explore perhaps a different side of the character, with more nuance, would have been welcome.
Alien franchise star Sigourney Weaver is also severely underused in the movie.
Say, in the sequence where Din is nearly dying, instead of having him knocked out, Mando could have been in a weakened state, knowing that he is about to die and Grogu saving him is nearly impossible. All that without a helmet so Grogu can care for him, bringing out what could have been the most electric performance from Pascal yet in the role. In the end, we got a little bit of the actor in the Dragonsnake fight and a whole lot of emotionless helmet shots. This drags the movie down more on a rewatch.
2
The Mandalorian And Grogu Suffers From Tonal Whiplash
Rewatching the space opera on Disney+, it is pretty clear that there is a fight going on between different tones. For instance, the sequence where Mando and Grogu are cornered at their home by Embo feels like something straight out of a horror or a thriller. Then you get the cute moments between Grogu and the Anzellans that feel mostly directed at toddlers and young viewers.
The Mandalorian and Grogu also alternates between John Wick-like fight sequences, with Din Djarin taking out several mercenaries in a bar or Stormtroopers inside AT-AT walkers, and slower comedic beats somewhat frequently. At times, I found myself wanting the movie to lean more into one tone than another, only for a shift to swiftly come, which becomes even clearer in a Disney+ Star Wars rewatch.
1
Star Wars Once Again Banks Too Much On Nostalgia
Finally, while I have already touched on the aspect of the Star Wars franchise and its use of nostalgia, The Mandalorian and Grogu hits that right on the head. In the end, this is a movie that does not explain why it needed to be made. It does not advance the characters’ stories, nor does it end with a major setup for where the Star Wars universe could go.
It just feels like the studio looked at the divisive reception to 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and decided to bank on characters fans already knew and loved instead of players the franchise actually had a compelling story for in Star Wars’ cinematic return. Don’t get me wrong, I had fun with Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, but this is an easy to forget entry in the franchise after you are done watching it, and upon rewatching the space opera on Disney+, these harsh realizations become too loud to ignore.
- Release Date
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May 20, 2026
- Runtime
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132 minutes
- Writers
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Noah Kloor
- Producers
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Ian Bryce, Kathleen Kennedy, Dave Filoni, Karen Gilchrist, John Bartnicki