Over the past four decades, Star Wars has spawned plenty of movies, animated shows,
and video games, but live-action television has always been the one unconquered frontier
in the Star Wars universe.
At least, until now.
At Star Wars Celebration 2019, showrunner and creator Jon Favreau repeatedly emphasized
that The Mandalorian will be one giant love letter to the original Star Wars trilogy,
and that tribute extends behind the scenes as well.
Favreau wants to make sure The Mandalorian feels like our first visit to that galaxy
far, far away.
Naturally, green screens and CGI are necessary to deliver The Mandalorian on a TV budget,
but Favreau says that the crew is also using puppets, animatronics, and special effects
makeup wherever possible.
For example, while the dogfights in the modern Star Wars films are mostly computer generated,
Favreau really wanted to make a model of the Razor Crest to use during production.
Well, Industrial Light & Magic's art staff were so excited about the idea that they didn't
just make a model.
Unprompted, they went home and built a camera rig in their garages, recreating the hardware
that was used to make Star Wars back in 1977.
The end result looks just like classic Star Wars films.
"You'll see, this is...isn't that cool?
It already feels like Luke's X-Wing, right?"
ILM's staff aren't the only Star Wars fans who got in on The Mandalorian action, either.
The show's producers reached out to the 501st Legion, a group of Star Wars fans who make
their own, highly detailed stormtrooper outfits.
Lucasfilm has teamed with the 501st before for promotional events, but The Mandalorian
marks the first time that the 501st has appeared onscreen in an official Star Wars production.
All of Star Wars owes a huge debt to George Lucas after all, he created the thing.
But The Mandalorian has some specific ties to Star Wars' maker.
For one, the show is heavily inspired by the first Star Wars movie, especially the opening
act and the cantina scene.
However, as Giancarlo Esposito has revealed, Lucas' input on the series goes a lot deeper
than that.
According to Esposito, Lucas actually contributed some creative ideas to the show.
While discussing The Mandalorian with Collider, Esposito said that Jon Favreau, quote, "figured
it out with George Lucas" himself, and worked directly with him to make sure the show felt
like classic Star Wars.
Star Wars and video games have always enjoyed a healthy relationship, and The Mandalorian
pushes it to the next level.
While Jon Favreau and his team used practical effects as much as they could to capture the
original Star Wars' hand-made charm, digital wizardry was key to bringing The Mandalorian's
exotic worlds to life.
But how did Favreau and the actors know what their fictional locations were supposed to
look like?
By using a game engine, of course.
Video game software is great at rendering detailed 3D environments in real time, and
The Mandalorian team used that tech to create digital sets that the cast and crew could
"film" and see the results in real time.
Not only did that speed up production, but it let The Mandalorian's creative minds get
an excellent read on what the finished product would look like and adjust accordingly.
The results should speak for themselves.
Thanks to Boba Fett, we knew what a Mandalorian looked like decades before we knew anything
about them as a people, and The Mandalorian wouldn't be the same without him.
Boba Fett debuted during the Star Wars Holiday Special, and while the rest of the program
isn't worth your time, Nelvana Studios' animated short "The Faithful Wookiee" absolutely is.
Not only does the sequence make Fett cooler than the movies ever did, but the design ended
up influencing both how the Mandalorians looked on The Clone Wars.
It also set the standard for The Mandalorian's costume.
That narrow visor, the big ol' holster, the natural color scheme, and the visible battle
damage?
Those are all from his old short.
It also gives an idea as to what The Mandalorian might look like.
In fact, Nelvana's animators looked to westerns when storyboarding the short.
"The Faithful Wookiee's" surreal landscapes and the dinosaur that Boba rides might be
a little too fanciful for live-action TV, but if you want to see Star Wars reimagined
as a spaghetti western, you don't have to wait for The Mandalorian's premiere.
There's already an example out in the wild.
If you're worried that creator Jon Favreau isn't up to the task of bringing Star Wars
to the small screen, don't be.
He's got some help.
Longtime Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy is listed as one of the show's producers,
and all of the material will still go through Lucasfilm's story group, the organization
in charge of keeping Star Wars canon consistent.
Favreau's also getting a big, big hand from the animated side of things.
Dave Filoni may not be a household name, but if you're a modern day Star Wars fan, you
know his work.
Filoni directed The Clone Wars feature film, and he worked side-by-side with George Lucas
to bring the subsequent animated series to the air.
Filoni also co-created both Rebels and the newest Star Wars cartoon, Resistance.
In other words, he's the guy behind a lot of the best of parts modern Star Wars canon.
According to The Art of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Filoni is the brains behind Anakin Skywalker's
beloved apprentice, Ahsoka Tano.
On Rebels, Filoni and his staff raised questions about the Jedi's relationship with the Force
years before Rian Johnson and The Last Jedi did the same.
"Revenge is not the Jedi way.
I am no Jedi"
Heck, he even voiced Chopper, Rebels' scene-stealing droid.
Filoni is serving as one of the show's executive producers, and he'll make his live-action
directing debut by helming The Mandalorian's very first episode.
The Mandalorian takes place about five years after Return of the Jedi and 25 years before
The Force Awakens, making the galaxy a very different place than what you're used to.
The ragtag Rebel Alliance has transformed itself into the New Republic, a representative
democracy that spans many known planets.
The Galactic Empire, on the other hand, hasn't been as fortunate.
After the Battle of Jakku brought the Galactic Civil War to a close, what remained of the
main Imperial fleet retreated to the mysterious Unknown Regions, where it will eventually
reform into the First Order.
Not yet, though.
The First Order is still years away.
It's a time of transition.
Out on the Outer Rim, where The Mandalorian takes place, former Imperial warlords are
scrambling to hold on to power.
Former rebels are trying to figure out where they belong now that the fighting has stopped.
Criminals try to profit off of the confusion, and The Mandalorian's main characters are
all caught right in the middle of it.
The Mandalorian isn't even out yet, and it's already a hit or, at the very least, Disney
seems extremely confident that it'll be one.
Months before The Mandalorian debuted, Jon Favreau got the greenlight to start writing
season two.
By the time that the cast and crew started making the rounds to promote the first season,
filming on the second was already underway.
Season two adds a couple of new directors to its already stacked lineup.
For one, Favreau will actually get to helm an episode or two of the series this time
around.
During season one, he was too busy on Disney's The Lion King to take a direct role behind
the camera.
The Mandalorian cast member Carl Weathers will also direct a season two installment.
In fact, his interest in sitting in the director's chair was one of the main reasons why he joined
the series.
"Dreams are worth fighting for.
Now are you going to be a fighter, or are you gonna be a doctor?"
"You're right, Carl Weathers."
Favreau promises that there are plenty of surprises and a few old "Legends" characters
in the pipeline.
Don't give up on The Mandalorian when season one ends in December.
The show is just getting started.
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