BREAKING NEWS: Get a First Look At Season 2 Of ‘The Mandalorian’
Entertainment Weekly has just released their Fall Preview and taking center stage is Season 2 of the show that everyone is talking about – The Mandalorian on Disney+. The article is a must-read for Star Wars fans and starts with a fantastic anecdote about Jon Favreau realizing that The Mandalorian and more specifically The Child or Baby Yoda was becoming a cultural phenomenon.
He recounts that he had seen a picture of a large mural appearing on a street in France featuring the “wide-eyed, Force sensitive character” of Baby Yoda peering out from under a bridge. Favreau says this was the moment he realized the series was big. Why? Because the show hadn’t even been released in Europe yet! Favreau says, “Something was going on where people were connecting with the characters, with social media allowing them to see aspects of the show before they even knew what it was.”
And it doesn’t stop there, as Entertainment Weekly points out the current audience score of The Mandalorian sits at 93% on Rotten Tomatoes which means that it has ranked higher than ANY live-action Star Wars films since George Lucas’ original trilogy. Add to that a whopping 15 Emmy nominations including Outstanding Drama Series and we have ourselves a winner! As EW says, “Not too shabby for a show about a hero whose face you cannot see (Pedro Pascal) who is partnered with a kid who doesn’t speak.”
So what did The Mandalorian do right that other Star Wars titles did not? Favreau chalks it all up to lower expectations of television versus movies saying, “I think it was the fact it was live-action Star Wars on TV for the first time,” he says. “Having worked on bigger, higher-profile films, there’s a much different set of standards that you’re judged by. We’ve benefited from the smallness of our world.”
He tells EW that another key factor was the input of executive producer Dave Filoni who mentored Lucas while working on seven seasons of the award-winning animated show Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Favreau, who has done the majority of the writing for The Mandalorian series says it was Filoni who kept him on track in terms of what would work within the Star Wars universe.
Filioni, when discussing the first season says, “Quite simply: We didn’t overthink things.” He continues, “George started with these very iconic characters whose relationships are very clear, and then introduced what’s at stake — for us, the [fate of] the Child,” says Filoni. “An audience tends to enjoy a story by sticking to tropes and characters they understand — like a gunslinger in the Old West. So it was a clear story and a fun adventure even if you’ve never seen anything [in the Star Wars universe].”
When discussing the process of collaborating with Filoni, Favreau says, “I’ll come up with ideas and sometimes Dave will say, ‘You can’t do this in Star Wars.’ Then I’ll cite examples from the movies, or Clone Wars, to try to use as a justification. I’m like a lawyer talking to a judge; I am to him as he was to George. I won’t do anything without Dave’s approval. And to his credit, he understands that Stars Wars needs to be fun and ever-evolving.”
The first season followed the title character also known as Din Djarin who was an orphan raised by Mandalorian warriors and his adventures across the galaxy including protecting The Child from the clutches of the Galactic Empire. The season ended with Mando setting off on an adventure to find the Child’s own kind.
So what’s in store for Season 2? Though Disney has yet to confirm new cast members or characters, rumor has it that : Rosario Dawson is on board as Jedi apostate Ahsoka Tano, Temuera Morrison (who played Jango Fett in the prequels) will return to Star Wars playing presumably some version of a clone trooper or iconic bounty hunter Boba Fett, Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) is rumored to be playing a live-action version of Bo-Katan Kryze, and also Michael Biehn (The Terminator) and Timothy Olyphant (Justified) have been reported as yet unnamed characters in the second season.
When asked about these casting rumors Gina Carano who plays Cara Dune in the series said, “Some of them are true, some are not sure.” Favreau adds, “The new season is about introducing a larger story in the world.” He continues, “The stories become less isolated, yet each episode has its own flavor, and hopefully we’re bringing a lot more scope to the show.” Filoni backs this up saying, “Everything gets bigger, the stakes get higher, but also the personal story between the Child and the Mandalorian develops in a way I think people will enjoy.”
According to Favreau, the second season will also introduce new storytelling elements, “As we introduce other characters, there are opportunities to follow different storylines.” Favreau adds, “The world was really captivated by Game of Thrones and how that evolved as the characters followed different storylines — that’s very appealing to me as an audience member.”
Favreau also revealed that Season 2 will consist of 8 episodes of different lengths and that Rick Famuyiwa, Carl Weathers, Robert Rodriguez and Favreau himself will be directing episodes.
Pascal who plays Mando had this to say about season 2, “We start very directly after the first [season] and he’s going into very dangerous territory.” Pascal continues, “He is very much a passenger to the experience in unexpected ways — not knowing what’s to come, not knowing how much or how best to protect the Child. We don’t know how far he will go to do that, and they’re finding new ways to push the envelope.”
In Season 2 the conflict will continue between Mando and Gideon who is in hot pursuit of the Child. Giancarlo Esposito said of his character, “I’ll be going toe-to-toe with Mando.” He continues, “It’s an iconic battle. I want to disarm him mentally as well. Who knows? Maybe there’s an opportunity to get him to fight some battles for me. You may think I’m a villain, but I’m trying to harness some energy and some powers for a path that could be best for all.”
Filoni also reiterated the importance of handling the Child just right when it comes to his role as a key character in Season 2. He says of the responsibility, “When he (Favreau) brought up in the very beginning of doing this child and having it be of Yoda’s species, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s very tricky, because there’s never been this before outside of Yoda, and then Yaddle in the prequels on the Jedi Council. It’s kind of a sacred thing … We just have to be responsible when we’re telling a story with what we’re deciding to do. The fans want to know things are a calculated, careful decision. Then if you tell a good story, most of the time they go with it.”
Other familiar characters like Karga are returning. This time around the bounty hunter is on a quest to be more legitimate.” Weather who is 72, says, “but I’m not sure there isn’t something in the back of his mind that isn’t more self-involved.” Karga has grown closer to mercenary Cara Dune to the point where they “almost finish each other’s sentences.”
And what can we expect from Mando? According to the piece in Entertainment Weekly, Pascal is continuing to refine his performance. He’s constantly trying to figure out how much or how little he can do. Pascal adds, “Which is a strange thing to say in a world like this where there are so many things that are just larger than life.” He continues “All of these galaxies and planets and ships and action sequences and creatures and stuff. And yet, ironically, as far as what I believe works in terms of storytelling, it’s the very small physical gesture, those specific intonations in a voice, that make him compelling. A little goes a long way.”
The Mandalorian will make it’s debut on the Disney+ streaming network on October 30th. Thankfully the filming for the sophomore season had already wrapped before the COVID-19 shutdown. However, there were still some pandemic era obstacles that needed to overcome. One such example is the orchestral score which needed to be put together in small groups.
This is a story that we’ll continue to follow closely here at MickeyBlog. Readers are encouraged to keep checking in with us for further news and updates. Also For more on The Mandalorian and EW’s Fall TV Preview, order the October issue of Entertainment Weekly now, or find it on newsstands beginning Sept. 18.
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Source: Entertainment Weekly