Star Wars Reveals New Behind-the-Scenes Look at 'The Mandalorian and Grogu'

Fans of Star Wars know that part of the joy of this franchise has always been seeing how it is made. This is what makes The Art of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu such an exciting release. To celebrate the book's release on November 3, Collider is thrilled to bring you an exclusive look at some of the art from Phil Szostak that allows fans of Star Wars to see the creation of some of their favorite characters, locations, and more from Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu. The book is currently available for preorder.

A continuation of The Mandalorian, the film allowed Mando (Pedro Pascal) to have his moment to shine, even if Grogu had to come in and save the day. With The Art of Star Wars as an addition to the series, it allows fans an in-depth look at how the film was made. The book includes inside information from creatives like John Knoll, a visual effects supervisor for Lucasfilm. Knoll said:

“[It helps] that Mando is often the one who’s interacting [with digital creatures]. We worked out with props and stunt department ways to do a lot of that physical interaction. A lot of times, it’s just stunt people with different kinds of padding on them to provide that. We clad them in something that was about the right color so that’s reflecting into Mando’s armor. But we have a really good CG asset of Mando, too, and there’s times when we put the creature in there and it doesn’t quite line up the way we want it. ‘Hey, we can always replace that arm with a CG arm and just blend that in and get it to work.’ Having the hero who’s doing a lot of this interaction be himself representable as CG does make life a little easier.”

Exploring More of the Galaxy

The book also gives insight from other visual effects directors like Christian Alzmann, who spoke about creating the Anzellan design. Introduced in The Rise of Skywalker through Babu Frik, the alien race appeared again in The Mandalorian before The Mandalorian and Grogu. Alzmann shared what it was like designing the Anzellans for the film, saying: “I was trying to carry the torch from what Neal Scanlan did on Rise of Skywalker. When I designed them for The Mandalorian Season 3, my thoughts were that they were kind of little technology nerds, and if they’re icky and dirty, it’s because they don’t care about that stuff. They’re just totally into technology and fixing stuff, so they’re not really into how they look.”

You can get your copy on November 3 and watch The Mandalorian and Grogu in the meantime! Interior spreads from the upcoming book The Art of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu (Abrams) by Phil Szostak, on sale November 3, available for pre-order now. © & TM 2026 LUCASFILM LTD.