The Mandalorian & Grogu Will Shoot in California for 92 Days, Film Gets One of States Largest Tax Credits Ever

The Mandalorian & Grogu is just a few months away from starting to shoot, and Disney/Lucasfilm just received a major boost in their financial prospects for the movie, which Jon Favreau will direct.



As broken down by Deadline, the film will employ 500 crew members, 54 cast members, and 3,500 background players during its 92-day shoot. To compensate for the job creation that the massive production will represent, the California government is giving back $21.755M in tax credits, one of the largest sums ever for the Golden State. (No actors have officially announced their return, though Pedro Pascal is expected to reprise the voice role, if not be on set at some point.)



This will be the first time a Star Wars movie is fully shot in California. A Collider report indicated that Lucasfilm is planning a June start for the film, and if we take Production Weekly's word, cameras would roll on June 17. A 92-day shoot equals over 18 five-day weeks, which means the production is targeting a mid-October wrap (four months in total).



Scene from Lucasfilm's THE MANDALORIAN, season three, exclusively on Disney+. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.



That's a long shoot, especially considering that previous seasons of The Mandalorian have shot for about six months, and the final runtime of the footage should be three times larger than the feature film's. We've also heard from Katee Sackhoff that Favreau and Dave Filoni like to film much longer scenes to later trim down in the editing room and reach that fast pace we see on the final cut of the episodes.



But a feature film typically takes much longer to shoot. Think of The Rise of Skywalker's six-month production. Though we assume they will be using the Volume a lot, they might be thinking of shooting more outdoor scenes to achieve a more pristine cinematic look than they can do in the Volume.



They will have plenty of time to edit and finish post-production on the film. The Mandalorian & Grogu is not expected to bow in theaters before May 22, 2026. All eyes will then turn to the Daisy Ridley-led Star Wars movie from Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, which if certain rumors are to be believed regarding a meeting between Angela Bassett and Lucasfilm, could be setting its casting wheels in motion already.



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