Jon Favreau's The Mandalorian

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Returning to direct additional episodes of The Mandalorian are Rick Famuyiwa and Bryce Dallas Howard, who each directed episodes over the course of the show's first two seasons. Mandalorian star Carl Weathers, who plays Greef Karga in the series, directed another episode while the newcomers include Rachel Morrison, Lee Isaac Chung, and Peter Ramsey.

Morrison is an Oscar-nominated cinematographer best known around these parts for serving as the director of photography on Black Panther. Ramsey was one of the three directors behind Sony's Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, while Chung wrote and directed the Oscar-nominated Minari. Chung is also set to direct the highly-anticipated sequel to Twister.

"Well, we established in The Book of Boba Fett that there was an opportunity for The Mandalorian to be redeemed because he had transgressed against the Creed by removing his helmet," Mandalorian producer Jon Favreau previously said about Mando Season Three. "And among his group of Mandalorians, that is something that's not permitted. Now, we know that there are other groups of Mandalorians where they have different sets of rules. In The Clone Wars, we saw with Dave and also with the character that I voiced that the Mandalorians are very different there. And so these different groups are coming together and we're going to figure out... the Nexus point for all of those communities, of course, is their homeworld from which they're exiled, which is Mandalore."

The first two seasons of The Mandalorian are now streaming on Disney+ while the third season of the hit show debuts on the service beginning March 1st.

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[Parson]

I don't know if the trailer increased my desire to see season 3 of the Mandalorian, but it did not cool my fire as either. Grogu appears to be on the path of combining Force powers with Madalorian ethics. If that's so then we could be in for another very interesting series. --- Personally more planet hopping is a good thing in my book.

 

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Grogu appears to be on the path of combining Force powers with Madalorian ethics.

Care to enlighten me?

 

[Parson]

Maybe I stated too strongly. I'm basing my assumptions on the fact that Mando is talking to Grogu about the Madalorian ethic/lifestyle, and the helmet being cast (for Grogu?), the people waving as Mando and Grogu leave while yelling "The Force be with you." and Grogu using the Force to defeat the giant? (whatever that was). So at best a hint, but it's what I understood.

 

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Grogu will not follow the path of the Jedi. That much was clear after the character’s appearance on The Book of Boba Fett, where he chose to leave with the Mandalorian rather than train with Luke Skywalker and wield Yoda’s lightsaber.

So what happens next? Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau suggests that Grogu made the decision to leave Luke because it allowed The Mandalorian to forge a new path for this Force-sensitive being. “You have this interesting character who has Jedi training to some extent, Force abilities, but also is joining the Mandalorian culture, which we’ve established is something that you can opt into. It demands a lot, it offers a lot,” Favreau told Empire Magazine. “Historically, Mandalorians developed all of those tools and armor and weapons to be able to counteract the Force abilities of Jedi. So as a storyteller this offers tremendous opportunity.”

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Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau suggests that Grogu made the decision to leave Luke Skywalker because it allowed The Mandalorian to forge a new path for this Force-sensitive being.

gizmodo.com

Interesting that they chose to go down this route and not opt to make him a Jedi. In a way it makes Gruku a space wizard, but also one of the persons in the SW universe that hasn't gone through the traditional training, but instead is forging his own path. Which, in turn, makes it interesting because traditionally it has only been three paths: Jedi, Grey or Sith.

The grey in this case is the most intriguing aspect as it gives a choice for the Force User to take from either school. The difficult bit is the balancing act, as the Light and Dark sides has their own draws. The intriguing part in the Dark Side is that it supports the void with only few users on that side, while the Light Side is majorly populated with their Force Users.

Groku, like the honoured Mandalorians chose to forge his own path and hence he said no to Luke's schooling. It just wasn't going to happen with him. It is the knowledge that he's capable of Force tricks that makes him intriguing, as he's doing a balancing act in the middle of two competing powers. But that same thing can apply to so many Force Sensitive people in the SW galaxy, as a lot of them are never going to see either of the major schools, or their teachers.

The closest that we have to what might become is the Witches of the NightSisters and their unique way of applying power. But that is not the only thing, because if you look into the past and into the Expanded Universe, there's evidence on Force finding its way and not applying to the major schools of thinking.

As an example, there is the long lost species that showed up Jedi: Fallen Order and in the Bad Batch S02E05 - Entombed. In the Fallen Order, they showed the species using Force to power their mechanoids. So it's going to be interesting to see how he's going to forge his own path as a space wizard in the upcoming season. Should we call him as a baby space wizard?

 

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Any fans who are hoping to see The Mandalorian's Din Djarin or Grogu, a.k.a. "Baby Yoda," land on the big screen will be disappointed to hear from series creator Jon Favreau that this likely won't be happening anytime soon, as he and his team are so focused on the pair's small-screen adventures that it's a challenge to find the right opportunity for such a crossover. While Favreau isn't ruling out the opportunity from ever happening, it's clear that the priority is to deliver compelling stories in The Mandalorian as opposed to that show aiming to open the door for movie crossovers. Season 3 of The Mandalorian will premiere on Disney+ on March 1st.

"There's always an opportunity when you have a set of characters and stories that people connect with that you could cross media into different areas. Marvel does it quite effectively," Favreau explained to Variety. "It's just a matter of where our time should be spent and what the appetite of the audience is. With all these stories we're telling, it definitely is a full-time job just keeping this going with what we're doing now. Television has a much different rhythm and schedule than film does."

The timeline of The Mandalorian presents some challenges to the crossover potential, as it takes place years after the conclusion of the original trilogy yet years before the events of the sequel trilogy. As it currently stands, there are multiple Star Wars movies that have been reported to be in development at Lucasfilm, with creators like Taika Waititi, Damon Lindelof, and Kevin Feige attached, though it's unknown which of these projects will be moving forward first, what their stories will explore, or when they might be taking place.

Interestingly, in the years since audiences first met Din Djarin and Grogu, the only film to be released was 2019's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. While that film didn't have any connection to the events of The Mandalorian, the Season 2 finale of the series featured an unexpected appearance from Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker. Similar to the approach to blending storylines and characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Star Wars franchise has featured more instances of theatrical events being incorporated into TV series as opposed to bringing those small-screen events or characters into the theatrical realm.

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Any fans who are hoping to see The Mandalorian's Din Djarin or Grogu, a.k.a. 'Baby Yoda,' land on [...]

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[Brian G Turner]

I don't understand why they have to have Grogu in Season 3. It seems to undermine the ending of Season 2. Surely the Mandalorian can have a story without a cute-sidekick?

 

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I don't understand why they have to have Grogu in Season 3. It seems to undermine the ending of Season 2. Surely the Mandalorian can have a story without a cute-sidekick?

The reason, because Groku was fetched from Luke in Mando 2.5 or as we know it, the Book of Boba Fett. Did you forget?

 

[Toby Frost]

I think Grogu lightens the tone and is a bit of a conscience for Mando (slightly less so as the story goes on), making him actually fight for the right side instead of being a mercenary who works to rules. Without the young sidekick, Mando would just be a middle-aged hardcase, wandering about, not saying much and killing fungus zombies with bits of rusty pipe... wait a moment, is that the right show?

 

[ctg]

Here Brian

In the Empire interview, Favreau goes on to talk about Grogu’s arc in The Book of Boba Fett and his choice between training and honing his Jedi powers or accepting Mando’s armor and becoming a clan of two, saying, “I think you had to service both things. Just because this kid has the potential and had training, does he belong away from the Mandalorian? I saw it more like Paper Moon, where the whole thing is about delivering the kid to the blood relative, only to realize that, whether genetically through her father or just through bonding, Tatum O’Neal has to end up with Ryan O’Neal. That ending feels really good to me. And this little kid [Grogu] is given a decision to choose. And the kid chooses the emotional relationship and wants to be with the Mandalorian, and passing up Yoda’s lightsaber. Part of you wants to see him develop in that way, and part the other.”

For Favreau, this arc was about giving Grogu the opportunity to choose his own path forward: “You have this interesting character who has Jedi training to some extent, Force abilities, but also is joining the Mandalorian culture, which we’ve established is something that you can opt into. It demands a lot, it offers a lot,” Favreau tells Empire. “Historically, Mandalorians developed all of those tools and armor and weapons to be able to counteract the Force abilities of Jedi. So as a storyteller this offers tremendous opportunity.”

Narratively, letting Grogu take control of his own destiny and choose to return to Mando was a great choice. There’s no denying that their reunion had the emotional impact intended by Filoni and Favreau. But regardless of their intentions, it still feels weird to have such an important moment in these characters’ stories be relegated to a couple chapters of another character’s story. Hopefully creators will learn from this misstep as the live-action Star Wars TV universe continues to expand with shows like Ahsoka and Skeleton Crew. We’re all for series connecting with each other, but using three out of seven episodes of The Book of Boba Fett as The Mandalorian 2.5 is a bit much.

Star Wars Finally Addresses Book of Boba Fett's Worst Mistake

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www.denofgeek.com

 

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Din Djarin Teams Up With Returning Fan-Favorites in New Mandalorian Season 3 Poster

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comicbook.com

 

[Toby Frost]

I rewatched the episode with the frog-lady and the spiders recently. It's quite odd watching a story where almost everyone is either a puppet or is wearing some kind of mask: the only human faces (including ones made up as aliens) are in small roles. It still works: the physical acting must be really good.

 

[Brian G Turner]

The reason, because Groku was fetched from Luke in Mando 2.5 or as we know it, the Book of Boba Fett. Did you forget?

Haven't watched that.

 

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Star Wars: The Mandalorian Season 3 is measuring slightly behind Season 1&2 when it comes to audience demand. A new report breaking down The Mandalorian Season 3's performance on Disney+ lays it out quite clearly: While the milestone first season of The Mandalorian peaked at numbers like 99.2 times the average series demand within a month (30 days) of its premiere, The Mandalorian Season 3 is coming in at numbers like 68.8x the average demand.

Comparatively, The Mandalorian Season 2 was 70.1 times the average series demand within thirty days of its premiere – not too far off from what we're seeing in demand for The Mandalorian Season 3. Therein lies the real point of Yahoo's report on the matter: these demand ratings for The Mandalorian Season 3 are nothing for Disney to sweat over. There's a laundry list of reasons given, but the bottom line is that the length of time The Mandalorian has been running (three seasons), and the widely-expanded market of streaming TV since the show first launched in 2019... this isn't exactly a bad news for Disney. On a larger comparative chart with the rest of the Star Wars franchise, The Mandalorian Season 3 is still well above The Clone Wars Final Season (48.0x), The Book of Boba Fett (40.1x), Obi-Wan Kenobi (38.5x) and Andor (32.6x).

On a more subjective level, it seems that buzz and fan hype for The Mandalorian Season 3 has, admittedly, been rising week-to-week. Despite criticisms, hardcore Star Wars fans and mainstream viewers alike have been overall pleased with the seasonal storyline of The Mandalorian people re-uniting and bridging their gaps (Din Djarin's Tribe uniting with Bo-Katan Kryze's Nite Owl faction) has hinted at some big things coming for Star Wars TV Universe. Those hints have led to the big promise that a major event film set in Star Wars' New Republic era is in the works – a culminating event that will bring all the New Republic Era TV series (The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, The Book of Boba Fett) together for one big showdown against the would-be inheritors of the Empire

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[Toby Frost]

While this is all very interesting, I feel that we've failed to grapple with the most important question here, namely: will Baby Yoda's first words be "This is the way" or "The way this is"?

 

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