STAR WARS RETURNS: EVERY NEW CREATURE AND DROID IN MANDALORIAN FILM

Seven years. That is how long it has been since a Star Wars film played in theaters. The last one was December 2019. Since then, three seasons of The Mandalorian aired on Disney+, Baby Yoda became a cultural artifact, and Lucasfilm quietly restructured its entire theatrical strategy around two characters who were never supposed to anchor a movie. Now they do. May 22, 2026. IMAX. ## Jon Favreau Spent Seven Years Thinking About These Creatures In a new behind-the-scenes video, director Jon Favreau and stars Pedro Pascal and Sigourney Weaver discussed the abundance of imaginative aliens featured in the film. Favreau expressed his longstanding admiration for creature designs in Star Wars: "To me, Star Wars has always been about creatures, and I think it dates back to when I saw it when I was a kid." That is not a marketing line. Favreau built The Mandalorian series on the same philosophy, with practical puppets and on-set animatronics at a time when every other franchise was leaning fully into digital. The bet paid off. Three seasons. Tens of millions of subscribers. A green puppet became the most-merchandised character in the franchise since 1977. For the film, Favreau described the approach as "embracing a lot of tradition, bringing in all sorts of creative disciplines," using techniques "to ground things, to make you feel like you're in a real place with real characters even though you've never seen these creatures or these droids before." Behind-the-scenes footage from the creature feature reel shows the extensive use of practical effects, including miniatures and puppets, to bring these unique beings to life. ## The Dragonsnake, the HK-87s, and a Hutt With an Arena Here is what the trailers have actually shown. One of the most thrilling scenes teased is an encounter between Din Djarin and a menacing dragonsnake. The dragonsnake first appeared in The Empire Strikes Back, where it tried to eat R2-D2, but the creature was also seen on the Hutt homeworld in The Clone Wars. Its return here is not a coincidence. The film's plot runs directly through Hutt territory. Trailers show a number of battle droids, including HK-87 assassin droids previously seen in The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, marching past tunnels that launch Hutt-affiliated Starcutter fighters. Toy reveals have also confirmed a modified B1 Battle Droid will appear in the film, with what looks like a B2 Super Battle Droid visible on the Hutt Twins' dais. Din Djarin faces off against Rotta the Hutt in an arena, using his whipcord to disable the Hutt's twin axes. Jeremy Allen White, who plays Rotta, has stated that Din and Rotta are "running around together" for much of the movie. That is a sharp casting choice. White is best known as Carmy Berzatto from The Bear. Putting him inside a Hutt and asking him to be both antagonist and reluctant partner is either brilliant or bizarre. Possibly both. The diminutive Anzellans are also confirmed to return in The Mandalorian and Grogu. The tiny, high-pitched engineers first appeared in The Mandalorian season two. Their presence suggests at least one mechanical repair subplot, which tracks with a film that reportedly features multiple new droids. ## Sigourney Weaver, Martin Scorsese, and a Kyuzo Bounty Hunter Walk Into a Star Wars Movie The creature roster is only half the story. The official trailer confirmed a Kyuzo bounty hunter, an Ardennian fry cook voiced by Martin Scorsese, and the returning Anzellans among the new and familiar species on screen. Scorsese voicing an alien fry cook in a Star Wars film is the kind of sentence that requires no additional commentary. At Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025, Jon Favreau revealed that Sigourney Weaver's character is named Colonel Ward and she fought in the rebellion. A veteran of the Rebellion, now operating under a New Republic that is still finding its footing. That is a character with history, and Weaver is the right person to carry it. Reviewers noted the focus on Grogu and the fact that only one human face, Weaver's, is clearly seen among creatures, droids, and masked characters in the teaser. That is a deliberate structural choice. Favreau is building a film where the alien world is the default, not the backdrop. Grogu is also getting training in a new swampy location, with a new Force-sensitive alien potentially picking up the work that Luke Skywalker started. Who that alien is remains locked. Favreau is not showing that card. ## The First Star Wars Film Shot Entirely in California, Arriving May 22 The Mandalorian and Grogu will be the first Star Wars movie in cinemas since 2019's The Rise of Skywalker, which marked the end of the Skywalker Saga. California allocated the production $21,755,000 in tax credits from the state's filming tax incentive program, one of the biggest allocations in the program's history. The film was expected to be entirely produced in the state, a first for a Star Wars theatrical film, and would generate over $166 million in qualified expenditures. Ludwig Göransson was confirmed in September 2025 to be composing the score, returning to the franchise after composing for the first two seasons of The Mandalorian and providing themes for the third. Launching the same day as the film, Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios will debut the first new mission on Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run since the attraction opened with Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, featuring Din Djarin and Grogu. Disney is treating May 22 as a full-platform event, not just a theatrical release. Pedro Pascal spoke directly about his attachment to the character: "I could get a little emotional talking about Grogu. That deep emotional connection exists in the way that the original Star Wars characters existed for me as a kid." The announcement that screen legend Sigourney Weaver would be joining the Star Wars universe helped bring even more attention to the film. The honest counterargument is the one Gizmodo raised this week. Critics have noted that the marketing for The Mandalorian and Grogu is "sorely lacking" in emotional stakes, focusing heavily on creatures and action scenes rather than character-driven hooks. That concern is legitimate. Creatures alone do not fill seats. What filled seats for the original trilogy was the relationship between the people, or beings, carrying the story. Favreau knows this. He built three seasons of television on it. The creatures are the world. Din and Grogu are the reason. May 22. The dragonsnake is waiting.