The Mandalorian & Grogu skipped a major detail of the Star Wars saga, and director Jon Favreau explained why.
Apart from Ludwig Göransson’s score, which seems to be the only thing that still looks like he’s having fun with the characters he’s been scoring for three seasons, there isn’t much to take away from The Mandalorian & Grogu. If you remember the Mandalorian’s arrival on Shakari and his encounter with Hugo Durant (the character played by Martin Scorsese), that moment is remembered only thanks to the composer.
The plot is as basic as it gets and the direction is rarely inventive, making this new Star Wars entry hard to analyze: not quite a horror on par with The Rise of Skywalker, but it’s just… completely forgettable.
Recently, it emerged that the villain of The Mandalorian and Grogu was meant to be more prominent if there had been a fourth season of the flagship series. But Lucasfilm chose to release a movie instead: on paper, fine, but the final result feels more like yet another episode of the series than a true installment of the franchise. The absence of a major detail probably amplifies that impression, and director Jon Favreau explained why this installment doesn’t begin in the same way as the others (and it makes total sense).
Not a Real Star Wars?
Before handing Lucasfilm’s reins to Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan, Kathleen Kennedy had promised that the opening crawl would now appear in every Star Wars film. But, surprise, no yellow letters and no John Williams score appear at the start of The Mandalorian & Grogu. Jon Favreau explained why to the American outlet Entertainment Weekly :
« We only saw the opening crawl in the films of the Skywalker saga. Solo didn’t have it, Rogue One didn’t either. In the Ahsoka series, there was another version of the opening crawl, but we made it red and it scrolls strictly vertically. It doesn’t drift toward the background. Depending on the piece we’re presenting, there are different ways to do it.
It’s such an iconic opening, so we don’t want to use it across all of Star Wars, [because there is] today a lot of different content.
Pour compléter les propos du réalisateur, le nouveau boss de Lucasfilm Dave Filoni a ajouté :
« Le texte déroulant classique est quelque chose que nous essayons de réserver aux films de la saga [Skywalker]. »
Il faudra donc s’armer de patience pour revivre ces moments qui nous ont fait frissonner dans les salles de cinéma (oui, même devant la postlogie : ce générique est toujours génial, même quand le film qui suit ne l’est pas). Si le texte jaune était présent avant chaque œuvre de la franchise, on en aurait probablement marre aujourd’hui.
Le dixième opus de la saga Skywalker n’a pas de date de sortie officielle. Intitulé New Jedi Order (et donc probablement Le Nouvel Ordre Jedi en français), il suivra les aventures de Rey après l’épisode 9. Côté séries, le tournage de la deuxième saison d’Ahsoka est terminé, mais elle ne devrait pas sortir avant début 2027. Le prochain film et spin-off de la saga sera donc Star Wars : Starfighter de Shawn Levy avec Ryan Gosling, attendu le 26 mai 2027 en salles, et sûrement sans texte d’introduction qui défile.
