A/V The Mandalorian (Jon Favreau SW Live Action show) - Now featuring former Man in DeLorean

Fwiw I think the younger sister was just an innocent who wanted nothing more than to fly her ship. She wasn't negatively portrayed at all. The elder sister could be seen negatively, i guess, but she was turning to grift to try to get by. Why is that necessarily more negative than Han the street rat? Or Ezra the petty thief? The elder sister(their names are slipping me right now) was always depicted in way over her head, meaning her scams had also largely been innocent until she got wrapped up in this spice running scheme.

IG: @jedisufism

 

Yeah, I think the Han comparison with Rafa is a fair one. She even goes a bit Indiana Jones in the last episode. Trace is a Luke, as well.

 

https://www.slashfilm.com/the-mandalorian-season-2-bo-katan/

 

Well you can't get better casting for her role than that.

 

I really wish Disney/LFL would actually confirm or deny these rumors. Anyway, this was something I was really hoping for from the beginning. If true, this bodes well for Kevin McKidd appearing as Fenn Rau at some point.

Of course, ever notice that none of the casting "leaks" have been anything that wasn't already contemplated by fans? People were talking about Rosario Dawson playing Ahsoka for years, and Temuera as Boba and Sackhoff as Bo Katan are people that have already played those roles in other things. I'd be more likely to believe a website saying Jeff Goldblum was playing a droid that someone saying Genevieve Reilly was reprising her role as Mon Mothma, for instance, or that Sebastian Stan is playing Luke Skywalker.

 

I almost wonder if the idea had been to reveal these big names at the Celebration convention this year, with the actors making a surprise appearance onstage.

 

I think the 'leaks' are Filoni and Favreau and co. just trying to spread some happiness in a really tough time. It could also be an indicator that Celebration isn't happening

 

I had a feeling that Bo Katan was gonna show up played by Sackoff if only because we need to see how Gideon got the Darksaber even if it is just a flashback "Yoink!" "Hey, that's mine!" and then Zoidberg style whoo hoo whoop whoop runs off.



Anyway, theory, Filoni was saying that Star Wars is ultimately about family, and the S1 finale establishes that Mando and Baby Yoda are a clan of 2/family. So maybe Ahsoka would be a semi-antagonist role where she thinks the child needs to be cared for and raised and instructed by fellow Jedi which brings her into conflict with Mando and they resolve it with a full on Mandalorian/Jedi ideological and physical fight. (which was seen in the Filoni directed "Trails of the Darksaber" with Sabine and Katan/Ezra) Of course, would Ahsoka be of the Jedi council style mindset that the Jedi way is the correct way could be an issue.

 

Now all we need is for Sabine to be rumoured as well as a Darth Maul ruling Mandalore flashback and we'll have won Filoni character bingo!

 

Sabine is rumored to appear along side Ahsoka and Rex. I doubt Maul will be in it.

 

I was gonna ask about this. In another thread Sabine was being talked about as if the character was practically confirmed although no casting is known. I just don't recall a source on that at all. Dawson, Tem and Katie aren't "official" as far as I know, but there's enough corroboration that they seem inevitable... I don't even recall a source saying that they had a source on the Sabine thing.

 

"This is the Way"

Do you have to be a SW fan to enjoy The Mandalorian? No, but it certainly helps.

The other element that became very clear after watching the series as a whole is Disney's strategy for it. On the face of it episodes that vary in length from 30 to 50 mins looks strange, how can there be any sense of consistency if there is such variance? Yet, the answer is remarkably simple - fit the story to the episode, with little in the way of waste or padding. This leads to the second aspect of their strategy - attention to design and aesthetics. It seems absurd that it has taken until now to get a live-action SW TV series, yet there are reasons for it not being done. The big one is the look and the feel. The viewer expectation is for a film-level quality of visuals and design to be replicated as close as possible on the small screen. TV writing and creative ability has developed much in recent years but this is still a big ask. By having variable episodes that go shorter as needed, Disney can more easily ensure quality consistency to match viewer expectations.

Half the series uses a two-part structure, to open and close it. The four one-shots that comprise the middle build on the starting duo and set up the ending pair. It's an effective structure.

"I have spoken"

One of the things that Disney did from the start of their acquisition of SW is take a far greater interest in what the civil war depicted in the OT would have looked like. What sides would people find themselves on and why? But due to the mess in where the ST was going, the lack of a clear direction, they were very cautious about exploring the gap between the OT and ST. This is the first real look at the effect the New Republic has on the galaxy, filtered through the lens of character perspectives - and most of these aren't that complimentary. Mando views the NR as weak, Cara was thrown away by it and, to an Imperial, well, that one's obvious. But, at the same time, the NR is enforcing some law on what is a very lawless galaxy - the sixth episode is particularly effective at showing this. Similarly, the character of Kuril shows how you can end up on the wrong side, with the decision being nowhere within your ability to influence or affect. It doesn't abandon the moral framework SW uses, doesn't grey it up but it does render things more complex, less clear-cut.

For all the criticism that the ST gets for shamelessly playing the nostalgia card, the same line is oddly silent where this series is concerned, despite it doing much the same thing. Maybe the difference is this series does so more subtly, if you don't see the trick, there is no trick. Yet there are some very, in plain sight callbacks to the OT in this series - no disintegrations? Far from it. Dodgy environments including Tattooine? Oh yes. X-Wings? Get a guest appearance. A battle with a walker in a forest? Check. Prison break? old on, oh yeah that's in. And then there are other nods to other Disney material that work without you having to follow them to that other material, especially as some of it has only just been revealed with Clone Wars' final arc, the Siege of Mandalore. It gives the series a distinctive identity, but also clearly sets it in a wider universe, one you may wish to explore further but don't have to.

Another quite subtle bit I loved was Kuril's line that until all the Imperials and the old ways gone, none will truly be free, to be particularly good given that the Empire becomes the First Order, which in turn merges with the Final Order and only at the end of RoS can this be said to have happened. The series is quite smart in how it looks both forward and back.

"Ask no questions"

Well, Mando didn't listen to that one now, did he? The Child is easily the breakout star of this, but, from a corporate perspective, I can see why Disney might have been ambivalent - this could have easily backfired. As it is, they have one of the cutest new SW characters in ages, perfect design, perfect animation - a Child versus BB-8 cute-off contest would be extremely hard to predict. You don't like the Child? Clearly, you have no soul. Add in some very carefully selected moments of Force ability, timed to perfection and yeah, there will Child plushes - it is inevitable.

The best character deaths should be both not at all obvious and fair. That is you don't see them coming, the story doesn't give the game away until it needs to and yet the move still feels fair and right. The finale of this first series kills off a couple of characters, does each work? Yes. Nor are those its only nasty surprises, but each one it hits the viewer with makes sense in the story it is telling.

Another aspect that stands out is the coordination between all the directors, each contributing to the greater whole, all working as a team. It's not the only example - Rogue One is another case where many talents contributed to the end product, but in the wake of the directorial punch-up that is the ST, it's good to see. And if that final episode is an indication of what a Wahiti SW film will look like, bring it on.

Overall? I really enjoyed this. It was an unexpected delight. They could have easily gone darker and nastier, but would that be better? I think not. Given the news of Season 2 suggests it'll be bringing in characters and plot elements from elsewhere, it'll be interesting to see how they maintain the balance of informing the viewer with what they need, without overdoing it.

 

@Jedi Ben

Especially next season if all these rumored cameos and possible backdoor pilot episodes happen ;p

Makes you wonder with Mando and the Rumored Rebel Series (And maybe the rumored Ashoka series which could just be the Rebel series and wires were cross) I wonder if the Post ROTJ era Pre ST era will be mostly TV/Disney+ focused moving forward.

Not that I'd mind.

 

It does seem odd that he's never seen even the original 1977 Star Wars. That came out during his filmmaking prime. Even if sci-fi isn't his thing, you would think he'd be curious what this film by another director that everyone was talking about at the time was all about.

 

He spent months in a jungle with Klaus Kinski, so I figure that he’s more than a little mad.

 

Yah I can totally buy that the guy who made Aguirre, the Wrath of God sorta missed out on Star Wars in '77, what with the insanity and all. Francis Ford Coopala's Heart of Darkness in Apocalypse Now ain't got nothing on that.

 

Pretty interesting casting if I’m honest, I really liked him in Deadwood and thought he was a solid villain in Die Hard 4. So my guess is he will play an Imperial.

 

I could see him as an Outer Rim lawman/Gunslinger ala his Justified character.

 

Between Deadwood and Justified, Olyphant is one of my favorite actors.

Would be icing on the cake to get some Anson Mount in Star Wars, but Trek has already secured Mr. Cullen Bohannon.

 

Given this show is post ROTJ, I am wondering if season 2 might feature a space racing event and cameo Han Solo sponsoring some racers as he did in Bloodlines. Would be epic to sneak stuff in the background there like Dash Rendar and the Outrider... or the Ghost. Or some Resistance folks like a younger Jaeger. Fire Rings of Fornax maybe?

Also another idea stuck in my head is that season 2 may, if Boba Fett rumors are true, pit Fett vs. Mando. It'd be brutal and show Fett's surpremacy in skills and experience as well as truly raise Mando to a new level to be able to survive this if hunted by Fett over the entire season, adding pace to it Season 1 was lacking with more tranquile episodes at times. Of course the mystery of Fetts survival or if Fetts armor really contains Fett and not an imposter is the big question then till the last episode.

Bonus points if a shocker reveal is that his dad isn't actually dead... but turns out to be no other than Boba Fett himself. He kinda looks a bit like an older Daniel Logan. Imagine, Fett tried family life as in Legends and it ended bad.. hid the kid, presumed dead the Kid became a Mando after his moms death at droids gunpoint in the "second Clone War" post ROTS and surviving dad, Boba Fett, returned to Bounty Hunting believing his boy to be dead too. What a family reunion then in Mando Season 2 or later? Mirrors Legends a bit, sure but I'd love it!

 

Except that scene you've capped is from during the Clone Wars when Boba Fett was a kid.

 

the plot thickens. An obscure character from the novels being brought to life? Would that be a first for the Disney Canon?

/Film Exclusive: Timothy Olyphant Will Wear Boba Fett’s Iconic Armor in ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 2