One exciting droid tradition is alive and well in Star Wars' next movie, The Mandalorian & Grogu. After more than half a decade away from theaters, Jon Favreau's MandoVerse movie will mark Star Wars' grand return to film in May 2026, debuting a new adventure across the cosmos alongside Pedro Pascal's Din Djarin and the adorable Grogu.
While Mando and his cutesy copilot will be at the center of the new movie (which will kick off a whole new theatrical slate for the Star Wars brand), they are far from the only characters set to hit the screen in the epic adventure. The Bear star Jeremy Allen-White has been attached to the project, playing a grown-up version of Rotta the Hutt, Jabba's son, who was last seen in the animated Clone Wars series, as well as several familiar droid characters from across canon.
According to Walt Disney Imagineering Vice-President Kyle Laughlin, fans can rest easy, knowing that The Mandalorian and Grogu will continue a long-running trend in the Star Wars franchise.
In a recent interview with Variety, Star Wars' next movie will again use practical droids for some of its robotic characters, specifically the new BDX droids that will be seen in the film.
"We were actually on set with those robots," Laughlin posited, adding that they would rather provide a practical animatronic than something computer-generated when it comes to the movie's droid actors:
"We were actually on set with those robots and interacting with the actors."
The Mandalorian & Grogu jets into theaters on May 22, 2026, continuing the story of Pedro Pascal's Din Djarin (a space-faring Mandalorian bounty hunter) and his eternally endearing Jedi companion Grogu. The new film, which comes from Iron Man director and The Mandalorian co-creator Jon Favreau, marks a new era for the Mando franchise, as it transitions from a streaming exclusive property to the next big thing in Star Wars movies.
Why The Mandalorian & Grogu's Droids are Such a Big Deal
While it will be exciting to see BDX droids in The Mandalorian & Grogu, as fans had only previously seen the waddling robotic survey-bots in the Star Wars Jedi video game franchise, their appearance also marks the return of something fans have been waiting to see if it would carry over from past films: Practical droids!
This should be rousing news for fans who have long celebrated the Star Wars franchise's propensity for practical effects. One of the biggest complaints about George Lucas' Prequel Trilogy was that the renowned filmmaker strayed too far away from the practical and leaned too heavily on computer-generated elements.
By using actual physical objects in its sci-fi world rather than computer-generated assets, the Star Wars franchise grounds the viewers in it even more, making the universe feel as real as our own.
That is why it was so celebrated when it was announced that Disney's Sequel Trilogy would go back to focusing more on practical effects instead of CGI.
Even years later, the House of Mouse's commitment to the practical remains when it comes to the Star Wars brand, which is good to hear for audiences wondering what this new era of Lucasfilm will look like.
Practical droids seem not to be going anywhere, and I could not be happier about it.
