Get the full rundown of the first batch of toys, merch, and collectibles from the upcoming The Mandalorian and Grogu film on display at New York Toy Fair 2026!
By Paige Lyman
The hunt for The Mandalorian and Grogu bounties begins! The brand-new Star Wars: “Most Wanted” global campaign was announced today by director Jon Favreau ahead of New York Toy Fair 2026. Inspired by stories old and new from across the galaxy, this year-long campaign features all-new merchandise inspired by The Mandalorian and Grogu, including toys, apparel, collectibles, accessories, and more! Favreau, director, writer, and producer of The Mandalorian and Grogu, took to the stage in New York City to reveal the very first merchandise inspired by the forthcoming film.
During the event, Favreau spoke about Star Wars’ unique history with toys, recalling the anticipation around Kenner toy vouchers the Christmas after Star Wars: A New Hope sent pop culture into a frenzy in 1977. The director revealed that eagle-eyed fans may even notice a few nods to old toys in this summer’s The Mandalorian and Grogu.
“As a collector of Star Wars toys myself since early childhood, I understand what an important storytelling extension they can be,” says the filmmaker. “For many fans my age, the toys were how we lived in the Star Wars galaxy between film releases. It’s an honor to continue that tradition with The Mandalorian and Grogu.”
When asked what he could share about the upcoming film, Favreau delighted fans with an update about Mando’s little green companion. “Grogu has leveled up a bit,” he teases. “We saw that he trained with Luke, so he’s got a little Jedi influence. And he’s also an apprentice Mandalorian. So now it’s time for his dad/teacher to bring him on adventures with him.”
Here’s a complete look at the film-inspired toys and collectibles that were unveiled during the event!…
Star Wars: Galactic Racer™ is a high-stakes, high-octane reinvention of racing born in the lawless Outer Rim of the Star Wars™ galaxy. Coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC in 2026.
A new racer has arrived to the Galactic League: an unsanctioned racing circuit where only the bold survive.
For Shade, a lone racer with a dream of glory and revenge, the League isn’t just a race; it’s a shot at reclaiming destiny.
Check out the original storyboards alongside the final imagery of the Battle of Hoth from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (Episode V) is now streaming on @disneyplus
Din Djarin and his charge pay homage to classic ads of the past with a new commercial
By StarWars.com Team
I can hear the wails and gnashing of teeth already from a certain contingent of fandom who wanted MORE than this…a harmless and fun trailer!!!
A tense showdown between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots was interrupted today by the Mandalorian and Grogu dashing through the snow on a wagon pulled by a team of tauntauns.
The Big Game spot features Din Djarin and Grogu riding through a snowy landscape. Instead of a team of Clydesdale horses, the vehicle is pulled along by a group of tauntauns. Take the reins and watch an extended version of the spot below:
The Mandalorian and Grogu, directed by Jon Favreau, follows an all-new adventure for legendary Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his young apprentice Grogu. The film, which also stars Sigourney Weaver and Jeremy Allen White, is produced by Jon Favreau, Kathleen Kennedy, Dave Filoni, and Ian Bryce, with music composed by Ludwig Göransson.
Get ready for The Mandalorian and Grogu, an all-new Star Wars adventure filmed for IMAX and opening exclusively in theaters May 22, 2026.
Executive producers break down new characters and locations from the animated series, which premieres on Disney+ April 6, 2026, with the full cast announcement and a first look at the story to come.
By Kristin Baver
With a velvety growl, Maul himself invites you to look more closely at a galaxy reshaped by the Empire in Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord. Today, the first teaser trailer and poster for the animated series arrived, giving fans our first glimpse at the world of Janix and the machinations of the underworld playing out in an era near the beginning of Emperor Palpatine’s reign.
Beginning with a two-episode premiere on Disney+ April 6, 2026, and two episodes each week leading to a finale on Star Wars Day, May the 4th, Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord picks up after the events of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, for a pulpy adventure that finds Maul plotting to rebuild his criminal syndicate on a planet untouched by the Empire. There, he crosses paths with a disillusioned young Jedi Padawan who may just be the apprentice he is seeking to aid him in his relentless pursuit for revenge….
Take a closer look at the poster art marking Lucasfilm Animation’s anniversary with a complete and numbered list of characters and ships!
By Katarina Cruz
Although there is no realistic scenario in which Mother Talzin would find herself in the same room as Opeepit, Lucasfilm Animation’s 20th Anniversary makes that and so many other unexpected pairings possible.
As we cap off two decades full of found family, wonder, and boundless storytelling, and look ahead to the exciting next chapter with Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord this year, StarWars.com is here to give you a closer look at Lucasfilm Animation poster art first unveiled at last year’s Star Wars Celebration Japan. The art brings together a galaxy full of faces and facets from all eras of Star Wars animation, with 152 characters and a fleet of some of the most iconic ships (plus a purrgil). This was definitely a crossover worth waiting for.
Drawing from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, The Bad Batch, the Tales of anthology series, Star Wars Resistance, and even Strange Magic and Star Wars Detours (unaired but never forgotten), Lucasfilm Animation dug deep for boundless inspiration and plenty of deep-cut character selection. The finished piece is teeming with a variety of characters and creatures, styled like one of the legendary Lucasfilm team photos to commemorate the end of a production or other milestone.
Test your knowledge with the complete and numbered list of every character and ship featured…
The Dathomirian is an iconic villain in the Star Wars galaxy, yet remains a mysterious figure.
By Lucas Seastrom
Ever since his iconic debut in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Maul has had a way of showing up where he’s least expected.
Midway through the original television run of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, he seemingly came back from the dead to seek revenge against Obi-Wan Kenobi. In the midst of a cast of mostly new characters in Star Wars Rebels, we saw Maul reemerge as a dangerous manipulator. And at the end of a live-action feature about the original trilogy scoundrel Han Solo, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Maul the crime lord made a surprise cameo.
Maul’s prevalence is all the more poignant because, somehow, he manages to remain so enigmatic. With the first trailer tease below signaling his upcoming return in Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord, the new animated series on Disney+ later this year, it’s worth taking stock of what we know about the Dathomirian Zabrak so far…
As Kathleen Kennedy steps down from Lucasfilm leadership to return to producing, Dave Filoni will lead the studio as President and Chief Creative Officer alongside Lynwen Brennan as Co-President
By StarWars.com Team
Lucasfilm announced today that after 14 years of leading the studio, President Kathleen Kennedy is stepping down from her role. Kennedy will return to full-time producing, including the studio’s upcoming feature films The Mandalorian and Grogu and Star Wars: Starfighter.
Dave Filoni, who worked closely with creator George Lucas to build the Lucasfilm animation department on Star Wars: The Clone Wars and helped launch Star Wars live-action series alongside Jon Favreau on The Mandalorian, will take on creative leadership of the company as President and Chief Creative Officer and Lynwen Brennan will serve as Co-President.
Their close collaboration and more than 30 years of combined senior executive experience will carry Lucasfilm into its next chapter of storytelling, with a strong foundation of creative vision and operational leadership guiding the studio forward.
“My love of storytelling was shaped by the films of Kathleen Kennedy and George Lucas. I never dreamed I would be privileged to learn the craft of filmmaking from both of them,” said Filoni. “From Rey to Grogu, Kathy has overseen the greatest expansion in Star Wars storytelling onscreen that we have ever seen. I am incredibly grateful to Kathy, George, Bob Iger and Alan Bergman for their trust and the opportunity to lead Lucasfilm in this new role, doing a job I truly love. May the Force be with you.”…
Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia Organa are also arriving on Batuu, as the Star Wars-themed land expands its timeline.
By Devan Coggan
Welcome to a new era of Batuu.
Disneyland Resort has announced exciting updates coming to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland. Beginning April 29, 2026, Black Spire Outpost is is expanding its timeline, introducing elements from the events of the original film trilogy. As a result, visitors to Batuu, the planet inside Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, may cross paths with a few familiar faces — from Darth Vader and Imperial stormtroopers strutting through the streets to Han Solo and Chewbacca reuniting at the Millennium Falcon, all while John Williams’ iconic musical themes swirl through the air.
The original Galaxy’s Edge timeline placed Batuu during the era of the Resistance and the First Order, between Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The new timeline will roll back several decades, expanding to span the events of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and The Mandalorian.
Ever since Black Spire Outpost welcomed its first visitors in 2019, the land has been growing and changing, adding new characters, attractions, and special events. This new timeline shift is the next chapter in the ever-expanding story of Batuu. “We’ve always seen Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge as a platform for storytelling, a land that would continue to live and grow and evolve,” explains Asa Kalama, vice president executive for creative and interactive experiences at Walt Disney Imagineering.
The new timeline means new characters (Han and Leia!), as well as updates to some shops and even the land itself. Here, we break down the biggest enhancements coming to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland…
Blue milk hot cocoa, caroling bounty hunters, and more from a Lucasfilm tradition.
By Pete Vilmur
In December 1977, after Star Wars had spent six months taking audiences to a brand-new galaxy far, far away, Lucasfilm began sending holiday cards to friends and corporate partners — a tradition that continues today. The very first Lucasfilm holiday card, which was an unassuming, Hollywood-themed greeting card, was probably sent to a few hundred recipients in 1977 and subsequently relegated to the backs of drawers — or worse — after the holiday season. The unfortunate fate of that first card would never be repeated, however, since the following year’s Lucasfilm card would debut two of the company’s most recognizable assets: droids C-3PO and R2-D2. And so began a long line of Star Wars-themed holiday cards issued by Lucasfilm over the years, a selection of which we are featuring here. Fans of legendary Star Wars artist Ralph McQuarrie will be delighted to see several of his works, which were exclusive to these cards, with most created between 1978 and 1983….
The trench run from Star Wars: A New Hope has been reimagined in gingerbread cookies for a stylized holiday Star Wars Mini by Industrial Light & Magic.
By StarWars.com Team
This holiday season, we have the perfect gift to share your love of Star Wars and the magic of creativity with your favorite younglings. Arriving on Star Wars Kids this Tuesday, a bite-sized short from the wizards at Industrial Light & Magic reimagines a classic scene from Star Wars: A New Hope with a delicious twist: the Death Star, Darth Vader, and the Rebel Alliance fleet of X-wings has been crafted entirely out of gingerbread cookies!
This stylized animation is just one of the ways ILM artists are paying homage to the Star Wars galaxy, finding creative ways to explore both their craft and their love of the saga. “The Gingerbread Death Star Trench Run” was created by ILM’s artists, including Landis Fields, a real time principal creative, using some of the same unreal engine technology used to craft the sprawling worlds of Star Wars video games and visualize the far-flung locales of recent Star Wars live-action series.
“We all love to spread joy and inspire people to make things and to imagine things,” Fields tells StarWars.com. “If you look all the way back to Walt Disney and George Lucas, and the folks after them that carried the baton and built these companies up, you’ll see that that is always at the root.”…
StarWars.com celebrates the year’s biggest news and best moments from film, TV, games, books, comics, and more!
By StarWars.com Team
It’s been a busy year across the galaxy.
The Star Wars universe expanded in 2025 with thrilling new adventures, major milestones, and a whole host of exciting announcements. New releases like Andor Season 2, the finale of Skeleton Crew, the complete anthology collection of Star Wars: Visions Volume 3, and the six-episode Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld forged bold new stories, while beloved films like Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: The Force Awakens celebrated big anniversaries. There was something new in seemingly every corner of the galaxy, stretching across Disney+ series, upcoming theatrical movie releases, games, books, comics, and more.
Here, we put together a crew of StarWars.com contributors to break down the biggest announcements and major moments and milestones of 2025….
To celebrate the ten-year anniversary of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, explore Industrial Light & Magic’s Oscar®-nominated work that brought the film to life.
Celebrate the 10th anniversary of Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Episode VII) with a “fireplace” ambiance of the iconic moment we see Kylo Ren and his lightsaber in the snow covered forest on Starkiller Base as he prepares to face off against Finn and Rey.
How do you make 100 new Star Wars aliens? In an exclusive interview with creature designer Neal Scanlan, dive into his Oscar-nominated work on Episode VII a decade later.
By StarWars.com Team
As we mark the 10th anniversary of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which premiered in theaters December 18, 2015, StarWars.com looks back at the film that launched the sequel trilogy.
Who is your favorite creature or alien from Star Wars: The Force Awakens? Is it brave Resistance pilot Ello Asty (coyly named after a Beastie Boys’ song)? Is it the conniving Unkar Plutt, played by super fan Simon Pegg? Is it the lumbering luggabeast? Maz Kanata? The glowing-red-eyed nightwatcher worm that pops his head up for five seconds right before the 10-minute mark of the film?
Regardless of who it may be (it’s the nightwatcher worm), chances are that Neal Scanlan, the 2015 film’s creature shop head, helped to bring them to life.
Scanlan has seemingly done it all. He started his career at 19 years old as a stop motion designer, then working as an animatronics designer and supervisor (including for the Jim Henson Creature Shop for nearly a decade). After scoring an Academy Award for his work on 1995’s Babe, Scanlan started his own studio in 1996. The Neal Scanlan Studio worked on a score of incredible films, including Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Ridley Scott’s Prometheus. At one point, he retired….
To mark 10 years since the release of the first sequel trilogy film, go back to the literal drawing board to uncover how concept art helped define a new era of Star Wars storytelling.
By StarWars.com Team
As we mark the 10th anniversary of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which premiered in theaters December 18, 2015, StarWars.com looks back at the film that launched the sequel trilogy.
On December 12, 2012, production designers Rick Carter and Doug Chiang, along with David Nakabayashi, creative director of the Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) art department, gathered at Lucasfilm headquarters in San Francisco to handpick a “dream team” of concept designers for the first film in the nascent Star Wars sequel trilogy, later titled Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
That team, nicknamed the “Visualists” by Carter, included concept supervisors Ryan Church and Erik Tiemens, who, along with Chiang, were directly mentored by Star Wars creator George Lucas during their time leading the JAK Films art department for the Star Wars prequel trilogy. It also included ILM concept supervisor Christian Alzmann, the four of whom would go on to form the core design team of Chiang’s Lucasfilm art department for projects ranging from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story to the 2026 theatrical release The Mandalorian and Grogu, as well as future Star Wars production designers James Clyne and Kevin Jenkins, to name but a few.
This year, we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the release of both The Force Awakens on film and The Art of The Force Awakens, my first book in the long-running Art of Star Wars series, on bookshelves. The latter charts the full visual development of the film from concept to screen from within the art department, and the selections below demonstrate how vital that work was in bringing co-writer and director JJ Abrams’s vision for the first chapter in a new era of Star Wars storytelling to life….
In honor of the film’s anniversary, we look back at giant puppets, horror movies, and monsters playing the same game of holochess for nearly 40 years!
By Brandon Wainerdi
As we mark the 10th anniversary of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which premiered in theaters December 18, 2015, StarWars.com looks back at the film that launched the sequel trilogy.
Did you know that the faceless soldiers of the First Order have a surprising connection to a certain British secret agent? We imagine FN-007 likes his blue milk shaken, not stirred.
It has been ten years since Star Wars: The Force Awakens premiered and, as we look back at the start of the sequel trilogy, it is also fun to take a peek behind the curtain. One of the most secretive, anticipated, and equally exciting movies ever released, The Force Awakens was created with exceptional care — a fact that is evident in all of the personal touches that went into its production. In honor of the film’s 10th anniversary, we’ve picked 10 of our favorite fun facts and hidden details to share with your friends and family during your next rewatch….