THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU Star Brendan Wayne Defends the Film’s Box Office and Teases Dave Filoni’s Bigger STAR WARS Vision

Whenever I find myself talking about The Mandalorian and Groguwith friends, the conversation often circles back to its box office performance.

The film didn't exactly make a big splash financially compared to previous entries in the franchise, but one person who isn't concerned about those numbers is Brendan Wayne, one of the performers who has helped bring Din Djarin to life since the very first season of The Mandalorian.

During a recent conversation with Brandon Davis, Wayne was asked why he believes Dave Filoniis the right person to help lead Lucasfilm into the future. His answer offered an interesting defense of The Mandalorian and Grogu while also hinting that Filoni is thinking much bigger than a single movie.

Wayne explained: "Dave's understanding of like, 'Hey, we're going to tell a story, and we're going to tell it over, three movies, or this next episode, this next season of Ahsoka.'

“He understands that it's not all about, did we open well against Solo, or whatever it was? We were amazing because we didn't have the budget of those movies, and we still did something."

The Mandalorian and Grogu opened with $165 million worldwide, matching its reported $165 million production budget. The film has since climbed to $297 million globally. While that's nearly double its budget, it currently sits as the lowest-grossing Star Wars movie released theatrically, coming in below Solo: A Star Wars Story, which earned $392.9 million worldwide.

Still, Wayne's comments suggest that Filoni may be looking beyond opening weekends and box office rankings. His focus appears to be on the larger narrative being built across multiple projects, something fans of Filoni's storytelling style have come to expect.

What really stands out is Wayne's reference to telling a story across "three movies" alongside future seasons of Ahsoka. Whether that was simply an example or a subtle nod toward actual long-term plans at Lucasfilm remains unclear.

Either way, it's enough to get fans speculating about where this interconnected era of Star Wars storytelling is headed.

We already know that Ahsoka Season 2 is expected to play a major role in shaping the future of the franchise. In fact, Jon Favreau previously teased just how important the series will be to the larger timeline.

Favreau said: "Anybody who saw the sequels knows that there's a First Order coming in, like, 20 years from where we are now in the storyline. And then Ahsoka season 2 is coming out – which I've seen all of – and that's definitely more dealing with the larger [picture], a higher level.

“That's about the officers and we're the enlisted men – this is more of a ground-level experience of what's going on. You're seeing the backdrop – which, by the way, is what the first Star Wars started off as."

That comment reinforces the idea that The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and whatever comes next are all pieces of a much larger puzzle. While Din Djarin and Grogu are experiencing events on the ground level, Ahsoka appears to be tackling the political and military developments that will eventually pave the way for the rise of the First Order.

Whether The Mandalorian and Grogu ultimately becomes the first chapter in a larger film trilogy remains to be seen, but Wayne's comments certainly make the possibility feel more real than ever.

We all know Filoni is mapping out a multi-project saga that stretches across movies and streaming series, and it’s all leading to his big crossover movie, so the box office performance of a single installment may only tell a small part of the story.

For now, Star Wars fans can look ahead to Ahsoka Season 2 and see how the next piece of Filoni's growing galactic narrative falls into place. If Wayne is right, we're only seeing the opening chapters of a much bigger adventure.