The Mandalorian Season 4 Would Have Focused On A Beloved Star Wars Villain

This year's "The Mandalorian and Grogu" will bring the beloved title characters from the Disney+ TV series "The Mandalorian" to the big screen. That means the "Star Wars" franchise is finally returning to a theater near you for the first time since late 2019. It also means that "The Mandalorian" Season 4 may never come to pass, for better or worse. But what would have happened in a fourth season of adventures with Mando and Baby Yoda? It turns out, they would have come face-to-face with Grand Admiral Thrawn.

In a recent interview with SFX Magazine (via GamesRadar), writer/director Jon Favreau revealed some of what was going to happen in "The Mandalorian" Season 4 before "The Mandalorian and Grogu" came about. Favreau, who was the main creative force behind the live-action "Star Wars" show, couldn't just recycle the scripts for the series and turn them into a movie. As a result, plans changed. Here's what he had to say about it:

"You can't just take those scripts and turn them into a movie. There were a lot of characters, it assumed you'd watched the whole show, and it was teeing up what was happening moving into [the second season of] 'Ahsoka.' It was about Grand Admiral Thrawn and following the larger storyline [of this era of the 'Star Wars' timeline]."

Grand Admiral Thrawn re-entered the canon in "Star Wars Rebels" Season 3 in animated form. He later made his live-action debut in "Ahsoka" Season 1, with Lars Mikkelsen portraying both iterations of the Imperial. The villain is immensely popular amongst fans, dating back to his debut in author Timothy Zahn's no longer canonical "Heir to the Empire" novels in the 1990s. Ever since, Thrawn has been one of the most popular "Star Wars" characters to never appear in a movie.

Lucasfilm head Dave Filoni has referred to Thrawn as the big bad of the New Republic era. This is the era set after the events of the original "Star Wars" trilogy but before the sequel trilogy, which kicked off with 2015's "The Force Awakens." So, having Thrawn present in "The Mandalorian" Season 4 in the lead up to a potential crossover between that series and other New Republic era "Star Wars" TV shows makes sense.

How, precisely, it all would have worked is a bit of a mystery, though. The "Ahoska" Season 1 finale revealed Thrawn's dark, twisted plan, which involves him coming back to the main "Star Wars" galaxy in an attempt to reclaim power. Would "The Mandalorian" Season 4 have picked up that plot thread? Whatever the case, Jon Favreau added that when "The Mandalorian and Grogu" became a reality, the story had to change:

"This is a completely different medium, so I had to start from scratch, essentially. There were certain things I wanted to pursue, like the idea of Grogu being the Mandalorian's apprentice. As long as you understand the archetypes of this hardened warrior with their vulnerable young apprentice, you'll know these characters well, even if you've never seen the show. But there's still a lot of 'Star Wars' in there. You're going to see where things are going [in the wider universe], but that doesn't diminish from the experience of watching it as a standalone film."

We'll see more of Thrawn in "Ahsoka" Season 2 when it arrives later this year. Whether or not Thrawn will make the jump to the movies? That remains to be seen.

"The Mandalorian and Grogu" hits theaters on May 22, 2026.