So many times I’ve found myself amused at how Star Wars news always seemed to come out whenever Alex and Mollie at Star Wars Explained were travelling. Now I know how they must feel as news has broken about the upcoming Star Wars live-action TV show as I spent a couple of days off the internet while catching up with an old uni friend!
On Thursday, the internet went wild as Jon Favreau announced that the show would be called The Mandalorian and released the following premise:
After the stories of Jango and Boba Fett, another warrior emerges in the Star Wars universe. The Mandalorian is set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order. We follow the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic….
StarWars.com then went on to release the first image for the show as well as revealing the directors involved. Dave Filoni (who was also listed as one of the executive producers) will be directing the first episode, while other directors named were Deborah Chow, Rick Famuyiwa, Bryce Dallas Howard and Taika Waititi.
I was already looking forward to this knowing that Favreau was at the helm, but seeing Dave Filoni’s name on the list of executive producers makes me even more excited as I have loved what he has done with The Clone Wars and Rebels and I am looking forward to seeing what he does in live action. Waititi’s name immediately grabbed my attention after the praise he got for Thor: Ragnarok so I am interested to see how he can do with another major franchise. I have no previous experience of the other directors, but have heard good things about Jessica Jones (Chow) and I have to imagine that Howard will have picked up some good tips over the years from her father Ron Howard, who I thought did a great job after coming in late on Solo: A Star Wars Story. While no casting announcements have been made yet, I have heard rumours of Pedro Pascal playing the lead and while I have not yet seen him in much, his performance as Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones has me hoping this rumour is true.
The image released as well as the premise has really piqued my interest as I have loved the content relating to Mandalore and especially its warrior culture, so to see this brought into live action will be amazing. The image looks fantastic and I’m sure there will be plenty of cosplays of the character at upcoming conventions, while what we can see of the set int he background looks great. The timeframe as well allows for some great stories as we have so little from this time period and it could easily incorporate the criminal underworld, the fledgling New Republic and potential Imperial holdouts (the end of Claudia Gray’s Lost Stars suggests there may be some Imperials still around to fight after the Battle of Jakku despite most of the remaining Imperials fleeing to the Unknown Regions).
While I doubt Sabine’s story will be continued in this show, there is every possibility that other Mandalorian characters could appear like the rest of Clan Wren, Fenn Rau or (my personal hope) Katee Sackhoff reprising her role from the animated shows as Bo-Katan. This is also potentially a great way to learn more Mandalorian history, which has been slowly teased out over time through the animated shows and we may even get more information on the fate of Boba Fett, who was hinted to have survived his run-in with the Sarlacc during Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath trilogy.
Like season 7 of The Clone Wars, The Mandalorian is set to air on the upcoming Disney streaming platform… I think it’s safe to say that’s one more person’s money they’ll be getting!
What are your thoughts on the news we’ve received? Are you looking forward to The Mandalorian? What do you want to see? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading and May the Force be with you…
The Canon Padawan 