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When The Mandalorian debuted on Disney+ in 2019, it felt like the start of a new era for Star Wars: a series disconnected to everything that had come before, playing with the same iconography but telling a new story. The problem with the trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu is that it’s entirely lacking that feeling. Instead, it feels like more of the same — which is a problem, considering this might be the most important Star Wars movie in more than a decade.

There’s nothing wrong with the new Mandalorian and Grogu trailer, per se; it hits every mark anyone would likely expect from it, but that’s almost the problem: it hits every mark anyone could expect from it without any real surprise: Grogu playing with buttons, which fans liked when it happened in the show? Check. Cameos from characters in other Star Wars shows? Check. The Mandalorian monotone-ly talking about his dad concerns? Check. Some music cues from the TV show and other Star Wars projects? Check and check. It’s a trailer that’s built to reassure fans who might have been confused or upset by a Super Bowl commercial referencing television adverts shown before they could remember, one that says as comfortingly as possible, Hey, remember Star Wars? This is Star Wars.

On the one hand, that’s a sensible attitude. The Mandalorian, as a television series, has re-established the franchise for a generation of fans, building out a number of spin-offs like Ahsoka, The Book of Boba Fett, and even the ill-fated Skeleton Crew. It’s been so successful, in fact, that it leapfrogged over other, already announced (and now, seemingly stalled) projects to become the first Star Wars movie in theaters in seven years, following 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and the first Star Wars release since Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy stepped down in January: a statement of intent about what’s to come in the next few years. This really is Star Wars for all intents and purposes right now.

So why does it feel so unexciting?

Perhaps it’s because everything we’ve seen from the movie feels like it’s overly cautious and unambitious. With the exception of Sigourney Weaver’s presence and some voice-over cameos (yes, that is Martin Scorsese), the trailer looks like an episode of the TV show with no added scale or ambition. Everything still looks like it’s been shot on The Volume with as few practical elements as possible. Whatever happened to that full-scale practical Walker build we were promised in 2025’s Star Wars Celebration Japan? For The Mandalorian to move from the small screen to the big screen, it should feel like an event, something that audiences couldn’t deny — so why does this feel like it could be the fourth season of a TV show that’s been running for years and exhausted much of its own goodwill?

Perhaps they’re holding more spectacle back for promotion closer to release. That said, the September 2025 teaser trailer was arguably more impressive and ambitious than this new trailer, so perhaps they’re aiming to go smaller with each new trailer. Maybe it’s a gamble to double down on what audiences clamored for in the show, offering more of the same instead of anything bigger and better — which might explain the Baby Greedo cameo in the new trailer, because baby Star Wars aliens, right? Everyone loved that the first time around!

Or it could simply be that what seemed so revolutionary and new back in 2019 has become the mainstream face of the brand, and Star Wars is more concerned with maintaining that brand than doing anything similarly new seven years later.

The Mandalorian and Grogu will be released on May 22, 2026. 

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