The Mandalorian and Grogu director Jon Favreau reveals one huge change
Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu director Jon Favreau has revealed fans will see one big change as the story jumps from the small screen to cinemas - declaring "Grogu has leveled up".
Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu director Jon Favreau has revealed fans will see one big change as the story heads to cinemas for the first-time.
The moviemaker took charge of the first big screen version of his hit Disney Plus Star Wars spin-off series The Mandalorian with Pedro Pascal returning in the title role as Din Djarin alongside his young apprentice Grogu as they are hired by the fledgling New Republic to protect it from the fractured Galactic Empire's warlords - and Jon has revealed audiences will finally get to see a different side to Grogu when the film hits cinemas.
Speaking during a panel event at CCXP Mexico in Mexico City, the director said of the film: "We wanted to introduce these characters to a new audience.
"But for the fans who have been there forever, like [this crowd], we wanted to evolve the relationship.
"It’s not no longer about the Mandalorian rescuing Grogu. Now Grogu has leveled up. He’s a Mandalorian apprentice. He’s studying under Luke Skywalker.
"He’s coming into his own, and now he’s discovering and unleashing his abilities."
Pedro also appeared at the event and he became tearful as he explained how much it meant to him to see the characters transfer onto the big screen.
He said: "As soon as I saw this [series], I knew that it would be a new authorship of a streaming experience. But I always had a dream in my heart that it would be on a big screen because that’s how I was developed as a child.
"I went to the movie theater so much with my family, and I saw the Star Wars movies on the big screen."
It comes after Jon - who has worked on The Mandalorian TV show since 2019 - recently admitted Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu could be his final project with the franchise.
During an interview with Polygon, he said: “I've been working on Star Wars now for seven years, and to be able to step up to doing it as a film feels like a culmination of what I'm working on."
Jon also reflected on the challenges of bringing The Mandalorian to the big screen. He said: "With Star Wars, we have to execute at that tech level. So the challenge becomes, ‘Okay, we presented a cinematic experience on the small screen. We have to up our game now to the movie theater'.
"That means taller aspect ratios for IMAX, building sets that take full advantage of that, making the visual effects of the quality and caliber that we have to notch everything up."
Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu - which hits cinemas on May 22 - also stars Sigourney Weaver as Colonel Ward, Jeremy Allen White as Rotta the Hutt, and Steve Blum as Zeb Orrelios.
