The closer we inch toward the May 2026 release of The Mandalorian & Grogu movie, the more curious I become about its true purpose in the larger storytelling slate of a galaxy far, far away. Every few months, we hear more about whether or not certain "Mandoverse" characters will or won't appear in it -- whether true or not -- and I can't help but wonder: Are Din Djarin and Grogu going to be the only characters on screen for two and a half hours straight? You do you, Jon Favreau.
Most recently, the possibility of a Fennec Shand appearance in the film -- cameo or otherwise -- came up. The character has now appeared across multiple Star Wars projects in both animation and live-action. It wouldn't be too out of left field for her to show up here. Sadly, any dreams of that actually happening have been crushed.
According to Screen Rant, Ming-Na Wen recently confirmed her Star Wars character doesn't appear in the movie -- but if she could be, "that would be great." She couldn't say much more, of course, because what else is an actor supposed to say to questions about whether or not they're involved in projects they contractually might not be able to talk about yet? But there you have it.
Ming-Na Wen has been involved with various Disney projects for a long time, only achieving her dream of joining the Star Wars universe as Fennec Shand in The Mandalorian. Her character also co-starred in The Book of Boba Fett alongside its title character, and even appeared in Star Wars: The Bad Batch in animated form.
There's no logical story reason that I can think of as to why she'd appear in the movie, though not knowing anything about the plot, I suppose it's unfair to judge. She's pretty busy on Tatooine helping Boba maintain order of the territory around this time, presumably. But Star Wars fans have a tendency to want and expect every character to magically appear in everything, so wondering is valid.
I can't wait to learn more about what this movie is actually about. The end of The Mandalorian Season 3 seemed like a great place to finally let Din and Grogu ride off into the sunset to give other Mandalorians (Bo-Katan Kryze) the full spotlight. But I don't write movies, I just write about them. So it's really not up to me, is it?