Empire Magazine Reveals a Sneak Peek into Lucasfilm’s Upcoming ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’

A First Look at the Empire Magazine exclusive covers, movie images, interviews and more

Empire Magazine has officially revealed a Mandalorian and Grogu exclusive for its upcoming issue, set to hit shelves on Thursday, March 12, 2026.

The official announcement for the magazine’s release, which came via its online X handle last, included exciting details that features two all new covers, images and interviews with the cast and crew.

Two covers will be released, including a Newsstand cover that has a dramatic portrait of the Mandalorian alongside the beloved Grogu, posed on a movie soundstage complete with baby Yoda’s own director’s chair, as well as an exclusive subscriber-only cover that shows Grogu taking center stage, playfully holding the film’s clapperboard.

For the many fans who have followed the three acclaimed seasons of The Mandalorian on Disney’s streaming platform, this adventure promises to bring the characters to the big screen for the very first time.

Nick de Semlyen, Editor of Empire, spoke briefly about how ecstatic the company is to have the chance to show this behind-the-scenes look at the first Star Wars film shown theatrically in seven years to fans across the globe.

“We at Empire are thrilled to unveil our first ever photoshoot with Star Wars characters, joining iconic small‑screen heroes the Mandalorian and Grogu as they make their very first movie. Which just so happens to be the first new Star Wars movie in seven years. With help from our friends at Disney and Lucasfilm, we managed to catch the iconic bounty hunter and his little green friend in Los Angeles for an incredible day (yes, Grogu is every bit as cute in real life). While inside the issue, we have world‑exclusive interviews with the director and stars of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, a film poised to bring Star Wars back to cinemas in high style this summer.”

Also inside the exciting new issue, the magazine presents several world‑exclusive interviews with director and producer Jon Favreau along with producer, co-writer Dave Filoni, stars Pedro Pascal(the Mandalorian), Sigourney Weaver(Colonel Ward), and Jeremy Allen White (Rotta the Hutt).

Favreau, who is no stranger to the Star Wars universe and has directed several of the streaming episodes of The Mandalorian series run, talked briefly about the importance of the original Star Wars theatrical experience and how powerful it was when it was first released.

“That very first shot [in 1977], the whole audience started to vibrate when they saw the blockade runner and an even larger ship pass overhead,” the filmmaker said. “That’s the power of a movie theater, the power of a crowd cheering for the same thing.”

Joining Favreau in creating this all-new theatrical adventure is Lucasfilm’s new Co-President Dave Filoni, who also co-wrote The Mandalorian & Grogu. Filoni, who also directed its second unit on the film, compares the Star Wars universe to a family connection that creates lifelong lasting memories.

“Star Wars still, I hope, feels special to people. I hope they go with their family. I hope they create a lifelong memory seeing this with their mom, dad, brother, sister, or whoever takes them. When people talk about Star Wars, often they talk about the people in their lives with whom they have connected.” Filoni says

Today, Star Wars continues to resonate in society because it combines epic space adventures with deeply personal stories about parents, children, and the bonds that define us all. Filoni says that it’s important for the characters to connect with their audience in order for them to buy into it.

“What can’t you do now?” says Filoni, noting that spectacle only goes so far. “It’s a question of, ‘Is the audience going to believe it? Are they going to feel it?’ That comes through the characters. If the characters are connecting, then the adventure plays, the action plays, the tension plays.”

In the hit series, The Mandalorian season 3 finale, many viewers believed that it was the end of Din and Grogu’s story, with the two finally able to settle into a homestead on Nevarro after taking down the villainous Moff Gideon and helping to reclaim the planet Mandalore. But Pascal assures fans that it’s really not the end of their story, and there are plenty of stories left to tell.

“It only felt like the ending of a particular chapter,” Pascal tells Empire. “They open up the opportunity for him to continue his best work as a bounty hunter, but just working for the good guys,” he says. “Combining skill and morality. Whereas when we first meet him, it’s simply skill, and Beskar, and [the Mandalorian] Creed. Through his relationship with Grogu, there is an expansion of his heart and a disarming of his armor, so to speak, that leads him to fight for what he knows is right.”

Also in the issue, we get to see a new, never-before-seen image from The Mandalorian and Grogu that includes Din Djarin riding an AT-RT on a snowy planet. Pascal, who plays the hired bounty hunter in the photo, admitted that while he had heard rumors for some time of a possible film, he tried not to get his hopes up because he was so heavily invested in the project becoming a reality.

“There were whispers about a movie. I didn’t hang onto or listen too closely to the whispers, because I wanted it to happen so badly.”

Other non-Star Wars projects covered in this issue will be Spider-Noir from Sony Pictures Television, Apex from Netflix, the Cape Fear miniseries from Apple TV+, The Beatles from Sony Pictures Entertainment, and a look back at Stand by Me from Columbia Pictures and director Rob Reiner on its 40th anniversary.

As for The Mandalorian and Grogu, I’m looking forward to major action sequences, surprise guest stars, and the excitement that extends the continuation of the “Mando-verse”. Until then, may the Force be with you….

The Mandalorian and Grogu hit theaters starting May 22nd.