‘The Mandalorian’ will be one of the most anticipated shows of the year as the first ever ‘Star Wars’ live action series lands on Disney+ in November…
The ‘Star Wars’ universe will finally expand beyond films when ‘The Mandalorian’ debuts on Disney+ on November 12 and new details about the plot, the lead character and the timeline for the series have now been revealed.
Writer/director Jon Favreau developed the series for Disney+ with former ‘Game of Thrones’ star Pedro Pascal taking on the lead role as The Mandalorian, who actually has a real name but that won’t be revealed until the series debuts later this year.
‘The Mandalorian’ will be set in the aftermath of ‘Return of the Jedi’ when the rebel alliance finally brought the Galactic Empire to its knees by destroying the newly constructed Death Star and eliminated both the Emperor and Darth Vader. There was more than a 30 year gap between the events that took place in ‘Return of the Jedi’ and ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ and that’s where ‘The Mandalorian’ will take hold.
“Our guy is operating in a much more unforgiving landscape,” Favreau said when speaking to EW. “A place where survival is difficult enough, let alone flourishing in that atmosphere and the politics have dissolved. It’s ‘might is right.’ And how does somebody earn a living when there’s no structure to society anymore and everything is collapsing in on itself? How do you work your way through the world?”
The downfall of the Empire doesn’t mean that the new Republic just springs up and order is restored across the galaxy. Installing a new government in the wake of taking down a tyrannical regime takes a lot of time, which means many of the planets throughout the star systems are trying to find ways to survive and adapt.
That’s where ‘The Mandalorian’ picks up.
Now one key element of the new ‘Star Wars’ spinoff that was confirmed ahead of the series debut is that despite the look of the lead character, this is not a Boba Fett clone.
Boba Fett — a bounty hunter first made famous in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ before he was killed in ‘Return of the Jedi’ — has become one of the most popular tertiary characters in the ‘Star Wars’ universe. It was eventually explained in the ‘Star Wars’ prequels that Boba Fett was a clone of his father Jango Fett, who was used as the model for the soldier army created that helped to fight the ‘Clone Wars’.
While Boba Fett is a well known character, Favreau promises that ‘The Mandalorian’ is a much different animal based on a bounty hunter from the planet Mandalore rather than another clone that has survived into the future.
“Our guy is a Mandalorian, a true man, and we definitely explore the culture of the Mandalorian,” Favreau said.
“Boba Fett is a clone, according to Attack of the Clones, and by asking [creator George Lucas], he would say Boba Fett is not Mandalorian, not born on Mandalore,” director Dave Filoni added. “He’s more of a person indoctrinated into it, into the way of life, and gets a hold of the armor.”
As much as Boba Fett has become a cult favorite, ultimately he was still a vile bounty hunter who was seeking to capture Han Solo before returning him to Jabba the Hutt. The new lead character in ‘The Mandalorian’ is a little more complex and it’s harder to paint him as a good guy or bad guy.
“Ultimately he wants to do the right thing,” Pascal said about his character. “But his duties could very much be in conflict with his destiny and doing the right thing has many faces. It can be a very windy road.”
‘The Mandalorian’ will also explore the origins of the First Order, which was the faction that rose up in the wake of the Empire’s destruction that first appeared in ‘The Force Awakens’. While it’s not likely that any prominent members of the First Order will appear on the show, the creation of the future opposition to the Resistance will begin in this series.
“What could happen in the 30 years between celebrating the defeat of the Empire and then the First Order?” Favreau teased. “You come in on Episode VII, [the First Order are] not just starting out. They’re pretty far along.
“So somehow, things weren’t necessarily managed as well as they could have been if [the galaxy] ended up in hot water again like that.”
‘The Mandalorian’ has been described as a ‘Star Wars’ Western because of the outlaw nature of the character and the world he inhabits in the wake of the rebels destroying the Galactic Empire. That means nothing will be black and white in this show but rather all shades of grey as The Mandalorian navigates a harsh and unforgiving world still trying to sort itself out.
“This doesn’t turn into a good guy universe because you blew up two Death Stars,” Filoni added. “You get that the Rebels won and they’re trying to establish a Republic, but there’s no way that could have set in for everybody all at once. You have in a Western where you’re out on the frontier and there might be Washington and they might have some marshals, but sometimes good luck finding one.”
‘The Mandalorian’ co-stars Gina Carano, Carl Weathers, Giancarlo Esposito, Taika Waititi, and Ming-Na Wen. The series debuts on the Disney+ streaming service in November with new episodes released each week.
