Badlands Hints at The Mandalorian & Grogu Movie

Disney secretly released a movie version of The Mandalorian, and it’s already making the upcoming release of The Mandalorian & Grogu even more exciting than it already was. Though the release date of The Mandalorian and Grogu, May 22, 2026, is still months away, Disney has already given fans a glimpse of what Star Wars‘ upcoming movie could look like. While it wasn’t a Star Wars movie, this secret Mandalorian film makes the proper movie even more exciting.

We do have a good idea of what The Mandalorian and Grogu will be like. There are three seasons of The Mandalorian to base expectations on, and the first trailers for The Mandalorian and Grogu have laid out some story details like Din Djarin hunting down Imperial Remnants for the New Republic. Even with those hints, however, we still don’t know what the movie will actually be like, but Predator may have given us a clue.

Predator: Badlands Gives Us A Taste Of What A Mandalorian Movie Looks Like

Another Disney franchise, Predator, basically delivered a Mandalorian movie several months before Star Wars could. The recently released Predator: Badlands is extremely similar to The Mandalorian and Grogu. Both follow stoic main characters who embark on dangerous quests at the behest of their fiercely warrior-centric cultures. Both protagonists find sympathetic and cute allies, both have similar themes, and both appeal to the same audience.

Predator: Badlands is so similar to The Mandalorian and Grogu that the former essentially gives fans a glimpse of what the latter should be like. Badlands presented a fusion of science fiction thriller with a roaring action adventure. It has unique alien monsters, a tyrannical galactic power (Weyland-Yutani), a focus on the warrior culture of its protagonist (the Yautja), and a strong, adventurous storyline filled with action and emotion.

If all goes well, The Mandalorian and Grogu should feel very similar to Predator: Badlands. The movie should give us more insight into the Imperial Remnants, a better look at Din Djarin and the Children of the Watch, a meaningful development in Din and Grogu’s relationship, and plenty of cool action sequences and heartfelt moments of emotion. Badlands proved this is a winning strategy for Disney, and there’s plenty of reason to believe The Mandalorian and Grogu will follow the same strategy.

The Mandalorian & Grogu Is Set To Be A Self-Contained Adventure

From the admittedly few details we have about The Mandalorian and Grogu, it seems like the movie is going to be a self-contained adventure, much the same way Predator: Badlands was. Badlands was technically the seventh Predator movie (not counting Alien vs. Predator), but it wasn’t actually a sequel. Every character in Badlands, from Dek to Thia, was completely new, and you only needed a cursory understanding of what a Yautja is to watch the movie.

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The Mandalorian and Grogu is seemingly following suit. We know that Din and Grogu are going on a mission to hunt down the Imperial Remnants, and as long as you’re vaguely familiar with the premise of The Mandalorian and the fall of the Galactic Empire and the rise of the New Republic. There are going to be some notable cameos, like Zeb Orrelios and Rotta the Hutt, but their Star Wars histories don’t seem crucial to understanding the movie at this point.

The Mandalorian movie is also going to build off the ending of The Mandalorian season 3, but even that shouldn’t prevent it from being a standalone adventure. Everything we’ve seen so far, from the planets Din and Grogu visit to characters like Sigourney Weaver’s Colonel Ward, is new. That’s great news for The Mandalorian and Grogu: it will be just as universally accessible as Predator: Badlands was, meaning it can have a much larger audience.

How The Mandalorian & Grogu Will Be Different From The Mandalorian Show

The Mandalorian and Grogu is also going to be different from The Mandalorian show. The Mandalorian was largely an “adventure of the week” show. Each episode saw Din and Grogu travel to a new planet, take on wide-ranging jobs from unique clients, and always had a huge focus on variety. By contrast, The Mandalorian and Grogu should be more focused on a single story of Din and Grogu hunting down an Imperial Remnant cell.

The Mandalorian and Grogu is also likely going to aim to fix some of The Mandalorian season 3’s mistakes. Bo-Katan Kryze, for example, probably won’t be as prominently featured in the movie as she was in the show, and most of the focus will be on Din and Grogu. Tie-ins to other Star Wars projects also probably won’t be as prominent, such as the cameos from Luke Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano, as they were criticized in season 3.

As far as we can tell, The Mandalorian and Grogu will also likely focus less on the Children of the Watch and the reclamation of Mandalore than The Mandalorian season 3 did. In short, The Mandalorian and Grogu seems to be returning to Din Djarin and Grogu’s roots and focusing more on their adventures than their lore. Hopefully, The Mandalorian and Grogu can follow Predator: Badlands‘ lead and revive Star Wars.