Star Wars’ next movie, The Mandalorian & Grogu, will break a 25-year-old tradition in the franchise, signaling a truly new beginning. Of all Star Wars’ upcoming movies, The Mandalorian & Grogu is likely the most highly anticipated. This movie is already groundbreaking among Star Wars movies and TV shows, as it will be the first to make the jump from the small screen to the big screen.
However, The Mandalorian & Grogu represents changes to the franchise in more ways than one. In addition to making this impressive transition, The Mandalorian & Grogu will also explore an era of the Star Wars timeline that has been minimally shown on screen, will not focus on the Jedi (or the Sith), and will no doubt uncover brand-new information about the issues of the New Republic era. However, there is one surprising tradition that the movie has already broken, even before it premieres.
The Mandalorian & Grogu Doesn’t Have Star Wars In The Title
Notably, The Mandalorian & Grogu does not include ‘Star Wars’ in the title, breaking with a tradition dating back to Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. In fact, not only did the prequel and sequel trilogy movies all include Star Wars in their titles, but also, even movies that weren’t in the Skywalker Saga maintained this tradition. Although Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Solo: A Star Wars Story changed the structure of previous Star Wars movie titles, likely to distinguish them from the Skywalker Saga, they stayed true to this naming convention.
It also seems like Star Wars is going to continue that tradition after The Mandalorian & Grogu, as Rey’s upcoming Star Wars movie is rumored to be titled Star Wars: New Jedi Order. While that remains to be seen, for now, The Mandalorian & Grogu seems to be the one movie in the franchise breaking this 25-year tradition. However, of every Star Wars movie thus far, it makes the most sense for The Mandalorian & Grogu to make this change.
The Mandalorian Has Become Its Own Brand
More so than any other Star Wars movie thus far (or those that are upcoming), The Mandalorian & Grogu is truly distinct in the franchise. Not only has the Skywalker Saga ended, but also, Grogu and Din Djarin’s upcoming story likely won’t be linked directly to the Skywalkers, nor will it focus on the Jedi and the Sith. Yes, Grogu briefly trained with Luke Skywalker, and he is a Force-user who was once raised in the Jedi Temple, but he chose to walk away from that path. Presumably, The Mandalorian & Grogu will honor that decision by moving on.
Yes, Rogue One and Solo were both separate from the Jedi/Sith dynamic, and Rogue One in particular executed that beautifully. However, Rogue One focused heavily on the Empire and the Death Star, and Solo felt quite linked to the Skywalker Saga through Han Solo. Moreover, as is suggested by the title, New Jedi Order will likely continue to explore the Jedi even beyond the Skywalker Saga.
By contrast, The Mandalorian & Grogu truly has become its own brand, focused on the Mandalorians as a group, Din Djarin as a bounty hunter, and Din Djarin and Grogu as an adorable adoptive family. In that sense, the movie will clearly be distinct from the franchise’s other movies, past and future. Given that, it makes plenty of sense for The Mandalorian & Grogu to break with this 25-year-old tradition and drop Star Wars from the title.