On Thursday Studio Ghibli teased a potential Star Wars project, and that speculation was fueled by a tease on Friday that it might include Grogu. We weren’t left wondering for long, as it was announced that the anime studio is collaborating with Lucasfilm on an animated short, “Zen – Grogu and Dust Bunnies,” which will actually be premiering on Disney+ tomorrow, November 12!
The animated short comes on the three-year anniversary of The Mandalorian‘s debut on the streaming service, marking a brand new era for Star Wars storytelling. Because of the flood of content we’ve received in the time since it feels like it’s been longer than three years, but The Mandalorian premiered on November 12, 2019. The first episode ended with the Mandalorian (whose name was later revealed as Din Djarin) finding a young child of Yoda’s species (whose name was later revealed as Grogu), sparking this adorable “baby Yoda” to international fame almost overnight.
It seems fitting, then, that Grogu is the focus of the short commemorating the three-year anniversary. Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio that was co-founded by acclaimed animation director Hayao Miyazaki, whose film Spirited Away (2001) received rave reviews and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. The film included dust bunnies, which will appear alongside Grogu in this animated short. The short will feature hand-drawn animation, a hallmark of Studio Ghibli yet a rarity for Star Wars.
It won’t be the first collaboration between Star Wars and an anime studio, however, as Star Wars: Visions premiered last year. The series was created by several different anime studios telling stories set within the Star Wars galaxy, and work on a second season has been announced as underway.
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