Star Wars’ first live-action television series is in the works and will stream exclusively on Disney’s unnamed streaming platform. Along with Jon Favreau, who is attached to the project? When will it premiere?
Disney may be slowing down its production of Star Wars movies, but there’s still plenty of Star Wars action on the horizon. Star Wars has boasted many animated series and will be bringing a “few” shows to Disney’s streaming service. At least one of them is the live-action series which was officially revealed as The Mandalorian on Oct. 3.
The idea of a live-action Star Wars series was first introduced in 2005, as a show that would’ve explored the world of underground crime during the time period between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. The project, under the working title Star Wars: Underworld, was never fully realized.
The Mandalorian comes in the new age of Star Wars, the world of the sequel trilogy and the spinoff movies, where the Expanded Universe has been rebranded; thus, this show will be totally different from the previous effort.
Here’s everything we know about the live-action Star Wars TV show.
A proud and warmongering people, the Mandalorians were featured heavily in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The Mandalorians were at odds with the Republic. The events of The Clone Wars take place after Mandalore was ravaged by a civil war. An era of peace was ushered in by Duchess Satine Kryze, who banished those unwilling to keep the peace to a nearby moon. Unfortunately, during Star Wars: The Clone Wars this pacifist regime was overthrown by Darth Maul’s Shadow Collective and Mandalore was subsequently ruled by the Galactic Empire.
While not originally from Mandalore, the bounty hunter Boba Fett and his father Jango wore Mandalorian armor, keeping the legends of the fearsome warriors alive.
Jon Favreau, director of Iron Man and Iron Man 2, is set to executive-produce and write the show. In addition to his Marvel directing credentials, Favreau voiced Pre Vizsla, leader of the Mandalorian Death Watch faction in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Rio Durant, the little four-armed alien dude in the beginning of Solo: A Star Wars Story, so he’s no stranger to the Star Wars universe.
Contrary to what one might think, Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weissare are not attached to a live-action Star Wars series; instead, they will be helming a new film trilogy.
There is currently no other announced cast or other production crew attached to this project.
Favreau announced on Instagram that The Mandalorian would be about a new warrior, inspired by the stories of Boba and Jango Fett.
“We follow the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic,” he wrote.
Both Mandalore and its bounty hunters have been hugely popular with Star Wars fans for years.
There’s also gonna be some cool-looking aliens — Favreau also said he plans to use the same motion-capture technology he used while working on 2016’s The Jungle Book .
Favreau said on Instagram that the show would be set “after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Empire.”
More specifically, it will be set three years after the end of Return on the Jedi . [ Note: Previous reports indicated that it was to be set seven years afterward, but that has been corrected. It is instead seven years after the Battle of Yavin from A New Hope.] The 30-year gap between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens is proving to be rich grounds for adaptations. New animated Disney series Star Wars: Resistance also takes place in this gap, though closer to the events of The Force Awakens.
The world of Star Wars is vast and full of far-off planets and galaxies, so the setting options are very much open. Mandalore is probably a shoe-in, but expect other familiar planets to make appearances, in addition to new locations. There are also reports that some filming is being done in a coastal location.
The series will stream exclusively on Disney’s streaming platform, tentatively titled Disney Play. The service is expected to debut sometime in the fall of 2019. There is not yet a price attached to the service, but it’s said to be “substantially cheaper” than Netflix’s $10.99 a month .
Though filming will reportedly start soon, there is not yet a release date for this series. Considering that Star Wars: Episode IX is coming out on Dec. 19,2019, and the platform itself doesn’t launch until fall of 2019, expect a 2020 release date at the very earliest.
