Star Wars: Dave Filoni's movie will tie the Disney+ series together, but will Grogu appear?

Star Wars Celebration 2023 kicked off in London on Friday where the 4,500-strong crowd was treated to footage and trailers from a host of new series including Andor, The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, Skeleton Crew, and The Acolyte, and they were also present for the announcement of three new big screen adventures.

James Mangold's movie will be set early in the timeline among the first Jedi, while another, directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and starring Daisy Ridley as Rey, is set 15 years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker.

Dave Filoni, who has been integral to Star Wars' animated and live action series from The Clone Wars up to The Mandalorian, will take charge of the third. This will be set in the time of the New Republic — between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens — in which the events of many of the Disney+ series take place. The film will tie together characters and stories from these series, and will draw on both the Star Wars Expanded Universe and new elements.

Read more: First look at Skeleton Crew revealed at Celebration

When asked if the movie marked an ending to the various series as a confluence point for all, Star Wars honcho Jon Favreau told Yahoo UK, “I think that there is always a culmination… there’s larger stories at work here.

"With The Mandalorian we got little glimpses of what’s happening politically in the New Republic, but when you’re dealing with characters like Ahsoka and Sabine and Hera and Mon Mothma, you’re dealing with a much higher level of politics in the Star Wars world.

"And so as those stories get to be explored more, there’s opportunities for bigger culminations that are happening on the big screen where you can present things that are more challenging on the small screen.”

It doesn’t necessarily spell the end for the series, however. This is especially good news since Ahsoka hasn’t even premiered yet.

“It’s television, and we know what happens many years later, and with Star Wars you have to fit to a context,” said Favreau.

“So as long as we fit within the stories – and now we’re telling stories like Ahsoka and Skeleton Crew and The Book of Boba Fett all in the same time period – but if we can manage to weave between these stories, as we’re doing with a tremendous amount of coordination, there’s the opportunity for these stories to go on.

"It’s not public knowledge what has happened to these characters, we just know that we haven’t seen them in the sequels and so I think there’s a lot of opportunity for these characters to go on for quite some time.”

Read more: Andor S2 announced for 2024

Filoni — a man used to working in the medium of television on the likes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and therefore au fait with serial storytelling — won’t be drawn on whether his newly announced film could lead to sequels. But he does say that his credentials for feature filmmaking come from the likes of the “legendary” George Lucas and Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy, as well as Favreau.

“Really, with his editing and visual effects acuity, [Favreau] was teaching me a lot about making a movie, the same as George was,” said Filoni.

“And George’s approach to The Clone Wars was to treat them like small movies so I’m sure, every step I’ve had, I’ll learn a lot in the process But I’m lucky to be supported by such legendary people.”

But the question on every Baby Yoda fan’s lips is will we see Grogu on the big screen?

“I don’t know what I can talk about yet,” said Favreau. “But certainly everything is being discussed.”

If theoretically Grogu were to appear on the bigger Star Wars stage could we finally learn more about his parentage and Yoda’s species as a whole, about which we know very little?

Read more: Ahsoka release date confirmed

“We don’t know a lot, that’s right,” said Favreau. “Yes, it’s by design, honestly – because it’s something George Lucas always chose not to reveal too much of and I think it’s a part of what makes the character of Yoda still so special and unique. So we have chosen to honour that to this point.”

Would Filoni want to explore it? “No, I don’t think so. Not for me. Mando’s his family.”

Watch the first teaser for Ahsoka