Disney+ released the short titled Star Wars Zen: Grogu and Dust Bunnies in celebration of The Mandalorian's third birthday.Disney+ released an announcement for the Studio Ghibli crossover short on its Twitter page, confirming the title and Nov. 12 air date. The tweet read, "Zen - Grogu and Dust Bunnies, a hand-drawn animated Original short by Studio Ghibli. Streaming tomorrow on @DisneyPlus." An illustration of Grogu surrounded by Ghibli's beloved soot sprites accompanied the tweet.
Rumors began after Disney+ IT (Italy) shared a list of programming earlier this month, which included the short Star Wars Zen: Grogu and Dust Bunnies in its lineup. Although Disney+ IT deleted the original post, savvy Star Wars fans captured a screenshot and shared it on Reddit in /StarWarsLeaks. In advance of the short's Nov. 12 release, Studio Ghibli released a series of teasers, including a clip featuring the Ghibli and Lucasfilm logos and a picture of Grogu with Hayao Miyazaki in the background.
Fans Immediately Began To Speculate on the Collaboration
Shortly after Studio Ghibli teased the Lucasfilm collaboration, fans immediately began to speculate whether the project would be an animated movie within the Star Wars universe in Ghibli's style. Although Lucasfilm owns the rights to several other IPs, including Indiana Jones and Willow, many fans leaned toward the collaboration occurring within the Star Wars universe. After releasing the picture of the Grogu figurine, fans quickly connected the dots and theorized that it would be for the short Grogu and Dust Bunnies. The popular fan theory is that "dust bunnies" refers to the susuwatari -- or wandering soot sprites -- that appeared in the famous anime films My Neighbor Totoro (1988) and Spirited Away (2001).
The Mandalorian's third season has an expected premiere timeline of February 2023 and will stream on Disney+. However, there has yet to be a confirmed date despite recent reports that the series would drop on Feb. 22. Excitement for Season 3 of The Mandalorian has remained high after its first trailer dropped in September 2022 during Disney's D23 Expo. The trailer focused on Pedro Pascal's Din Djarin as he attempts to redeem himself after breaking his clan's rules by removing his helmet in Season 2. Grogu, Djarin's surrogate son, also features prominently in the trailer.
When discussing the breadth of Season 3, Pascal had a lot to say: "I mean it's epic, it's definitely epic, and we're going to get a lot of things that were introduced into the storytelling early in Season 1, themes and ideas that you'll remember once we get into [the] full fruition of Season 3, and it's epic, epic... but I'm not lying, it is epic... the amount of times I say 'epic' gives everything away, okay?"
Star Wars Zen: Grogu and Dust Bunnies is available to stream on Disney+.
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