Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
The Mandalorian has gained another cast member: Ex-MMA fighter Gina Carano, The Wrap reports. Her previous acting roles include Fast & Furious 6 and Deadpool.
Yesterday, Variety and EW doubled down on reports that Pedro Pascal is going to lead the series. The show will be exclusive to Disney’s upcoming streaming service, Disney+, and we expect to see it sometime late next year.
Looks like Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones, Narcos) is The Mandalorian’s lead after all. This was one of the very early reports on the show, and now it’s back, with Variety doing the heavy lifting. Pascal “has been offered the role and negotiations are underway,” they report.
It feels super odd to me that this show has supposedly been filming for weeks but they’re only now locking down a lead actor, but hey, at least maybe this means that we’ll get official word before the year turns over. EW’s Anthony Breznican doubles down on the casting, saying “production is already underway without a lead actor.”
Pascal is probably best known by genre audiences for his role as Oberyn Martell in HBO’s Game of Thrones. He played one of the Statemen in Kingsman: The Golden Circle and has a role in the upcoming Wonder Woman 1984.
The Mandalorian, written and executive produced by Jon Favreau, will be exclusive to the Disney+ streaming service, which is expected to go live in late 2019. Dave Filoni will direct the first episode of the series.
Now that the streaming service has a name, the marketing for Disney+ has really begun… Along with some inklings of how it will work.
Per Vulture’s Josef Adalian, Star Wars will be one of the “five central content hubs” for the service (along with classic Disney, Marvel, Pixar and National Geographic) so there won’t be much need for Netflix-style scrolling.
We also know that they’re aiming for the monthly price to be less than Netflix (cheapest plan: $7.99). Disney’s ESPN+ streaming service, which launched earlier this year, currently charges $4.99 a month. So I suspect we’ll be looking at something that’ll run fans $5-7 a month. (And maybe even some savings if bundled with an ESPN+ or Hulu subscription?)
But! The content. What’s coming for Star Wars? Here’s what we know for sure, some speculation about what else may be in play, and what we definitely won’t see.
Continue reading “What to expect from Star Wars and Disney+”
The long-rumored Boba Fett spinoff film is so dead that Kathleen Kennedy is admitting it almost existed:
Kathleen Kennedy just confirmed to me Boba Fett movie is 100% dead, 100% focusing on THE MANDALORIAN #StarWars
— (@ErickWeber) October 26, 2018
The tweet-scoop is backed up by Variety. Fett has been the subject of spin-off rumors since we knew there were spinoffs, but the most recent rumors had Logan’s James Mangold writing and directing. (Before that, Fett was reportedly the subject of Josh Trank’s standalone.)
I myself am notoriously indifferent* to the character, but I doubt this means we’ve seen the end of him – the Fetts did get namechecked in our very first official dispatch re: The Mandalorian, after all. And even if Boba doesn’t get freed from his sand-ridden digestive grave in the new canon, the fact that we actually have a show called The Mandalorian coming is a pretty definitive testament to the character’s influence and legacy.
* Okay, I’ve been pretty much sick of the dude since, oh, 1996.
Jon Favreau had a birthday visit (and some wine!) from George Lucas on the set of The Mandalorian today.
A later post shows the two with Dave Filoni, who worked with Lucas on The Clone Wars and is directing the first episode of The Mandalorian:
Meanwhile, Making Star Wars has had their view altered… . At least briefly.
In Jon Favreau’s latest snaps from the set of The Mandalorian, he shares two props that might look familiar. The first is an ice cream machine, which you may remember from The Empire Stikes Back, or perhaps the traditional Running of the Hoods. The other is a tad more obscure (well, as obscure as anything Star Wars really gets – it’s an Amban phase-pulse blaster (or something inspired by it) that originates with the first appearance of Boba Fett in the Star Wars Holiday Special.
Who wields these objects – if they even end up as anything beyond scenery – is yet to be seen, but neither Willrow Hood nor Boba Fett are entirely out of the question.
Making Star Wars is back with more set pics from The Mandalorian. There’s a door, an alien and someone who seems to be an important cast member. Not sure how many more we’ll have coming, as the authorities seem to be onto them.
A new rumor says that in addition to directing episodes, Bryce Dallas Howard and Taika Waititi will also have roles in the series. Discussing Film says that Waititi may be voicing a droid.
We know who The Mandalorian directors are, but Making Star Wars has learned what episodes they’ll be actual directing. The official release only specified that Dave Filoni was doing the first, but MSW has him, Deborah Chow, and Rick Famuyiwa each directing two episodes, with Bryce Dallas Howard on the fourth and Taika Waititi taking on the (season?) finale. The eight-episode number comes from MSW’s earlier reporting; an earlier report has it at 10, but shortening the load is one way to get the most out of a rumored $100M budget.
MSW has been killing it on this show – in addition to all their recent scoops, they were the first to report that Mandalorians were involved back in August. We don’t have much reason to doubt them when it comes to the show.
We get our first official look at Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian, plus a director list. The first episode will be directed by Dave Filoni, and other directors will include Deborah Chow (Jessica Jones), Rick Famuyiwa (Dope), Bryce Dallas Howard (Solemates), and Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok).
The series is being written and executive produced by Favreau. Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy, Colin Wilson and Karen Gilchrist are also producing.
Still nothing official on the cast (who’s in the armor, Lucasfilm?), but Making Star Wars has some evidence (though probably not for the armor-wearer, though who knows) as they continue their set reporting.
Well, a Mando. Star Wars’ first live-action tv show is officially The Mandalorian, Jon Favreau reveals on his Instagram.
The show is expected to debut on Disney’s streaming service, which is due to launch in 2019. It’s supposedly filming now. (A lot of filming. Quite a lot of filming.) Also rumored, at least one cast member, who seems like a likely candidate for the lead. If it’s open season on news, though, we may get a confirmation sooner rather than later.