Jon Favreau 'disappointed' The Mandalorian was not initially on the big screen

Jon Favreau "felt disappointed" that 'The Mandalorian' could not initially be shared on the big screen.

The 58-year-old filmmaker is directing, and co-writing with Dave Filoni, 'The Mandalorian and Grogu’, a feature-length film of the Disney+ series that he created and said making a movie has given him more opportunities than he had on TV.

Although he is "very proud" of what the show has become, Jon always thought it "felt cinematic".

He explained to Collider.com: "The big difference is the amount of construction you can do.

"The process is so long compared to television that you can plan, look at it, discuss, use multiple stages, indoor and outdoor sets, do construction, you can do stop-motion.

"There are a lot of things that you have an opportunity to do because of the timeframe that you would never be able to do to the same extent on a small screen.

"Although I'm very proud, I have to say that whenever we looked at the stuff that we made for the show, or in an environment where we shared it with fans, it always felt cinematic.

"I felt disappointed that we couldn't share it with more people that way."

However, the movie - which was digitally filmed for IMAX on set and is gearing up to be released in May 2026 - has proven to be a challenge because, as three seasons of 'The Mandalorian' exist, not everyone who will be going to the cinema to watch 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' will have watched the series.

Jon said: "That's honestly a big part of what we see as the challenge that we wanted to meet head-on.

"A lot of people know these characters who haven’t seen the show.

"So, it's not just that there are people who saw the show and people who don't know the characters, there's a big range of people who are familiar with who they are, the archetypes, what they look like.

"They've seen them in fan-made stuff, social media clips, so you want to lean into that understanding, but not take for granted that they know all the lore associated with every season of the show."

However, Jon has said it is also important to "reward" those fans who have watched the series from when it premiered in 2019, and "constantly" has those conversations with the film's co-writer.

He added: "But you also want to reward the people who've been there since the beginning, and so that's the conversation that we constantly have, that I have with Dave, especially.

"How do you embrace the characters, the archetypes, but not have it be required viewing?

"But if you've seen it, you see things that are in there that speak just to you, and that’s a big part of 'Star Wars'."