Favreau: Mandalorian Season 2 Remains On Track
Today, an amazing collection of Star Wars storytellers joined ATX TV…from the Couch! Day 1. The Mandalorian Season 1 creative team of Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Deborah Chow, Taika Waititi, Rick Famuyiwa, and Bryce Dallas Howard sat on a panel hosted by Vanity Fair’s Anthony Breznican.
“Filmmaking and storytelling can be kind of a lonely game,” said Favreau. “And when you have all of these people coming together, it makes it a team sport.”
Favreau & The Mandalorian Crew: On The Couch
And, oh what a team to feature on ATX…from the Couch!
ATXFestival explained:
“From the Couch” is our first-ever virtual festival, featuring three days of panel conversations, exclusive first looks at upcoming series, fan-favorite reunions, and LOTS more TV goodness. Stick around and join us… from the couch!
“It was just fun being around everybody as we went,” said Star Wars auteur Dave Filoni. “No one had done Star Wars like this, before.
“There was Star Wars live-action before, but they were movies.
“This was fast, this was lean,” he added. “We didn’t know how it was going to work.”
Waititi: It Worked Well
But it worked explained Waititi.
The award-winning director was recently named to helm a new Star Wars film. But on The Mandalorian, he directed Chapter 7: The Reckoning and voiced IG-11.
“It was very much a familial feel,” said Taika, well known for directing Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok and the Oscar-winning Jo Jo Rabbit. “I think everyone was very generous.”
An A-Ha Moment For Howard
Breznican asked Howard about devising the entrance of Cara Dune
“Meeting Gina Carano for the first time was so exciting,” said Bryce. “I kind of had this ‘a-ha’ moment for myself.”
Howard said that she understood why all the concept art looked like Carano, a former MMA fighter who played a heavy in Deadpool.
“This why you cast THE person,” she said. “This is why you just go for what is totally authentic.”
Hard-Boiled: Deborah Chow
And speaking of authentic Star Wars scenes, Chow spoke about developing Episode 3, The Sin.
In it, The Mandalorian infiltrates an Imperial remnant’s stronghold. And Chow explained how the encounter combined elements of Hong Kong action movies, Westerns, Star Wars, and more.
“It became more and more hard-boiled,” she said of the noir style dark hallways and setting. “I think I kept going back to Jon and saying, ‘Can I shoot more? Can I shoot more?'”
If you have seen the episode, you are certainly thrilled she shot as much as she did.
Oh My Goodness: The Child
And of course, there can be no discussion of The Mandalorian without talking about The Child.
“One of the things, for me, was the challenge of having a main character who wears a mask, and how you can convey a sense of what’s going on,” said Rick Famuyiwa. And when I first got the script for the child, which I think was like 14-pages, I was like, ‘Oh my goodness.’
“I’m going to have to tell this story about this Bounty Hunter and this kid and…make people connect.”
Connect they did, and so will you to this panel. Check it out, here (beginning at 2:15:00):
https://youtu.be/dew0l0uixKc
Favreau: The Mandalorian Season 2 Will Debut On Time
However, real news from today is that Season 2 is on time.
“We were lucky enough to have finished photography before the lockdown,” said Favreau, who explained that all of the post-production was done remotely. “We’ve been very efficient.
“So, we’ll be available — as planned — in October on Disney+.
“And [we’re] hopefully building on what people love about the first season,” he said.