Dave Filoni On Whether His ‘Star Wars’ Film Will Be A ‘Mandalorian’ Finale

At Star Wars Celebration, we learned that The Mandalorian mastermind Dave Filoni will make his feature debut on a Star Wars movie with a lot of storyline threads. One of the first things we learned was that it would tie-up plots from Filoni’s various shows, which would include Ahsoka and Star Wars Rebels. But we also would find out that Filoni could be including Grand Admiral Thrawn in a battle between the Imperial Remnant and the New Republic.

Given that Thrawn was teased pretty heavily in a recent episode of The Mandalorian, it stands to reason that Din Djarin and Din Grogu could be involved. But will Filoni’s film bring their story to a close? A big screen conclusion to their small screen adventures? Filoni told IGN

“I don’t know if I’d call it that as such. I think of the time period now, the New Republic time period, and it’s something that has existed long before we were ever making ‘The Mandalorian.'”

“The idea that after ‘Return of the Jedi’, there was a new republic and the heroes still had to defend that republic from the remnant empire, is a very old idea that we brought into the first season of ‘The Mandalorian’ because it’s what was always there.

I know it hasn’t been announced or anything, but Filoni’s film might be the start of a new core trilogy, adapting Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire . Nobody has picked up the baton from George Lucas like Filoni, and there’s nobody else, other than maybe Jon Favreau, that fans would trust to steer the Star Wars ship.

It’s unclear when Filoni’s movie will arrive, but with the Daisy Ridley-led Rey film expected in December 2025, chances are it’ll be after that.

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.