Is a Mandalorian Trilogy Coming?

Movies

Giancarlo Esposito and other Star Wars stars recently appeared at Dragon Con, and Culture Slate has the scoop on his most interesting comments. Namely, Esposito discusses potential future directions for the Disney+ Star Wars series The Mandalorian. He predicts a Mandalorian and Grogu film trilogy, echoing rumors of the show ending on Disney+ to make way for other Mando-centric projects. Disney+ isn’t a very profitable venture, whereas moving Mando’s ongoing adventures to the big screen will drive revenue back to Disney and Lucasfilm. Check out Esposito’s comments regarding a possible Mandalorian trilogy here: 

Esposito said that he has the feeling that there is plenty more to come, conceptualizing that, “as in the MCU…Disney will figure out how to join all of these characters into one really great movie or TV show. That’s my sense of where it will go…Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau have a new vision, continuing on with a Mandalorian movie…My sense is that it’s all going to converge at one point or another and we’re going to have another set of… [a] trilogy, or more, of films.”

And here, taken from an appearance at MEGACON Orlando in February, he discusses the fate of Moff Gideon: 

“So what you put out is what you receive, and I believe your mind can control a lot of your circumstance. And no matter what your circumstance is, you can overcome much of that circumstance if you’re in the right mindset,” Esposito said. “I am not gonna die, so, therefore, Moff Gideon is not dead!”

And finally, from Fan Expo Canada in August, Esposito’s general sentiments on his character and his motivation:

“My belief, and one of the things I kinda started with, was,‘Okay, we have heroes, but who is this guy who we want to label as a villain?’ Right?” Esposito continued, “I sort of take that word [villain] out of it and go,‘Wait a minute, he’s a hero who has fallen from grace.’ For whatever reason, we don’t need to know what that is, maybe we’ll find out eventually, but his ideas were good in his brain, but no one wanted to listen to him. So, therefore, he’s going on a mission to get you to see him, to listen to him. […] He wants to be that hero even though he’s not seen as such, and that creates someone who has all the human characteristics that you and I have.”

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he’s right about the Mandalorian trilogy. The Mandalorian, and really Grogu, is the only Star Wars thing that has made Disney any money since 2017. After diminishing returns on each sequel movie and souring opinions towards the Disney+ programming, wanting to make some money isn’t entirely out of left field. Disney has dug themselves this hole, and only they can get themselves out. This show and its characters have proven to be both beloved and lucrative, the perfect thing to get people back to cinemas for Star Wars. Especially if The Mandalorian and Grogu does well and New Jedi Order fails (or fails to get made at all), it would reinforce this as the best way forward for Star Wars. 

I really don’t know how to feel about Moff Gideon’s “death,” even after a year since The Mandalorian season 3 ended. The Gideon of season 3 felt different than before, although I attributed it to the vastly inferior writing of season 3 at the time. There is a group of fans who believe this was a clone of the real Gideon due to him not having a mustache and behaving uncharacteristically. I just don’t know what to believe; I don’t want another “Somehow, Palpatine returned.” I don’t think any of us want that, especially not with a character and story we have generally enjoyed. But it did feel like a cheap, out-of-character way to send off a great villain. What do you guys think? Is Gideon alive? I’m even less interested in his reasoning, as the mystery is much of his appeal. I still want to see (not hear) how he got the Darksaber from Bo-Katan, though. 

What do you think about the idea of a Mandalorian trilogy or anything else Giancarlo Esposito had to say? Let us know in the comments!

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