40 Years Later, Jon Favreau Reveals His Canceled Plan for a New Star Wars Holiday Special With the Mandalorian [Exclusive]

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The 1978 TV special, The Star Wars Holiday Special, is legendary for all the wrong reasons. It was heavily criticized when it first aired, but has since become strangely popular among fans. While Lucasfilm has never released it on DVD or Blu-ray, bootlegs and online sources have made it easier to find over the years. This has led some to wonder if a similar special might be made in the future, though a *Mandalorianthemed holiday special seems unlikely.

While promoting The Mandalorian and Grogu, Jon Favreau (known for directing the movie Elf) revealed he’d considered a holiday special. He mentioned the idea was discussed during the first season and that he thinks Peli Moto, played by Amy Sedaris, would be essential to it. “There is something there,” he said, adding that he couldn’t imagine doing it without her character.

Favreau mentioned they briefly considered a holiday special for the show, but this was just a playful idea discussed very early in the process, before it even aired. He confirmed there are currently no plans for one, though it’s been a topic of conversation.

Could A Mandalorian Holiday Special Work Now?

In 2020, a fun animated special called The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special was released. It wasn’t a groundbreaking hit, but most viewers enjoyed it as a lighthearted adventure filled with funny moments, hidden references, and the signature LEGO humor. It was a welcome collaboration between Lucasfilm and LEGO, and a definite improvement over the original holiday special. However, fans haven’t seen a live-action holiday offering from Star Wars in many years.

A recent Christmas special proved this kind of project can be successful. In 2022, Marvel released The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, which was an official part of the Marvel story and connected two of their movies. This showed that a similar special could work for The Mandalorian. A Mandalorian Holiday Special doesn’t even need to fit directly into the main Star Wars storyline. If it’s heartwarming and funny, it could become a fun holiday tradition for families to enjoy each year.

Okay, so I’m a huge fan of The Mandalorian, and honestly, the thought of a Grogu holiday special is adorable! But it’s probably not going to happen. Disney seems to be making fewer things for streaming right now, and Lucasfilm is really focusing on movies again. A live-action special like that takes a lot of money and effort. Remember The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special? That worked because they filmed it while they were already making the third Guardians movie, so they saved on costs. It was perfect timing! Even if Jon Favreau had a great idea for a Mandalorian special, getting it made would still be really difficult logistically.

While Lucasfilm hasn’t given up on TV series entirely—a second season of Maul – Shadow Lord is coming—it doesn’t seem to be a major focus like it was earlier this decade when many new Star Wars shows were made. A fresh take on the infamous Holiday Special, perhaps using LEGO characters and storylines from the last six years, could be a good idea. Din Djarin and Grogu already made a brief appearance in The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special, and a follow-up centered around them would make sense. They’ve become the most recognizable faces of Star Wars recently, so an animated special featuring them would be a natural fit.

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2026-05-15 18:43