After a seven-year hiatus, Star Wars returned to the big screen in May 2026 with The Mandalorian and Grogu. While reviews were lukewarm, many were stoked to be able to visit a galaxy far, far away in theaters once again.
The plot of the film followed Din Djarin and Grogu as they took on a mission from the New Republic to help out the Hutt cartel. What started as simple turned into a far more complicated journey to uncover a secret Imperial Officer, save Rotta the Hutt's life, and potentially wipe out the entire crime family.
One major criticism the film faced was its lack of an important narrative within the Star Wars universe. One of the biggest plot points in the franchise at the moment is the return of Thrawn, which will be tackled in Ahsoka Season 2. But with Dave Filoni's big MandoVerse crossover movie announced a long time ago, many assumed that The Mandalorian and Grogu could set the stage for that massive film. However, The Mandalorian and Grogu missed a chance to introduce the wider audiences to Thrawn.
The Direct sat down with The Mandalorian and Grogu star Jonny Coyne, who plays Imperial Officer Janu Coin in the movie, to discuss his role in the film, what he knew about his character's future, and whether there were ever any talks about including Thrawn.
Was Thrawn Ever Going to Be Mentioned in The Mandalorian and Grogu?
Coin Is Likely One of Thrawn's Pawns, But That Was Never Set to Come Up
- The Direct: "Your character has deep ties to the Empire, and so everyone obviously assumes that there's this connection to Thrawn. I'm curious, because Thrawn's a big part of Ahsoka and all this, but he wasn't in the movie, wasn't mentioned, was there ever kind of a discussion of, like, 'oh, we might mention him, we might bring that up, was that ever a potential thing?'"
Jonny Coyne: There was no discussion of that. We were just working on this production on this story, there was never any talk about Thrawn or anything like that, and what plans they had for Thrawn. I don't know, but I'd be interested to see myself.
- The Direct: "Hypothetically, would you say that Coin is definitely stuck in his ways, and he'll always be the villain, or do you think there is a potential avenue that he could kind of adjust to working alongside the rebellion and being that type of?"
Jonny Coyne: Interesting. I mean, that's the second person who said that. I must have leading man qualities about me... I don't know. That would be fantastic, and that's the kind of thing that happens in TV shows sometimes. They go, "Oh, we like this character, but we've got some more. Let's make him a good guy and bring him back. I don't know if that's going to happen. There's no talk of that. I don't know if there's any enthusiasm for changing the storylines like that, just to get me back. I've said to everybody, you know, I got to be part of the Star Wars world, and to do it a second time, that would be greedy, but I'm very happy with what I got.
Jonny Coyne Had No Idea He'd Go From Disney+ to the Big Screen
"I Didn't Get Any Information..."
- The Direct: "When you boarded 'The Mandalorian,' the show, how much of your future character reveals or information, did you know ahead of time?"
Jonny Coyne: I mean, I was booked for part of Season 3 and then more for Season 4, but I didn't get any information, to be honest with you, because it was so early days by the time I finished my one episode, they were already thinking, I think, in terms of turning it into a movie at some point. So, I think I had no information, no idea where they were going with it. I didn't know I was going to be part of it, to be honest with you. I think when the show went away, I thought I went away with it. It was a nice, pleasant surprise, and a thrill, frankly. Once I heard just how significant my character was going to be, that was going to be part of it.
- The Direct: "I know you're only on the show for like a little bit, but even just with the experience you had there, how would you sum up the difference in just working in the environment of a show like that to that scale, and then a movie to this scale?"
Coyne: So, confession time. I was ill on the day of the actual shoot on my scene, so they inserted me, so I got to work on this empty stage with a handful of stage hands and people, and Jon [Faverau] reading some of the other lines and things like that, so I was kind of inserted, so I was kind of not only a virtual hologram, but it was an actual hologram, frankly, you know what I mean? I was thrown in there, so it's hard to tell the difference between movies like 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' and others; the scale is enormous on both of them. You know, you do something like 'Hangover 3,' it's a big movie.
Working With the Mandalorian Himself
Getting to Work Across From a Star Wars Legend Is a Surreal Experience.
- The Direct: "What was it like working across from The Mandalorian? Was it ever Pedro? Did you ever work across from him?"
Jonny Coyne: Brendan Wayne is the Mandalorian for most of the time in the costume, and he was very accommodating, very helpful, and frankly, I had all the lines anyway... I mean, I did meet Pedro eventually, but it was much later, but you know, it was mostly—essentially my mine is two or three scenes and some action scenes, and so you had a combination of Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder, who was the action guy. Those are the guys I work with mostly.
- The Direct: "One of the major scenes in this film is the stadium scenes, the Coliseum. With Star Wars, obviously, you can't build everything practically; it can't all be there, as is the nature of the franchise. So, when you were in those stands, what were you looking at on the day?"
Jonny Coyne: I had live people behind me, and they were all part of the enormous action. They were all really geared up, and they were giving it 100%. It was amazing to watch, and when I glanced around to sort of interact with them, they were in it, so it was great, man. There was a... I don't know, I can't tell my numbers, but gotta be at least 50 to 100 people behind me, and they're the bulk of people, I'm sure some sort of super CGI type technology [that] stitches them together. I'm sure there's all that, but the guys behind me, they were for real, and they were amazing, really... We did have some live action in front of us that we watched, but it walk through of the of the stuff that was going to be done. I mean, Lateef was just walking through, and the monsters, various monsters, were placed, I think, for reference.
