Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni appeared at Star Wars Celebration on Saturday to give cheering fans their first look at the third season of The Mandalorian.
The duo was joined by cast of the popular Disney+ series, including stars Pedro Pascal, Giancarlo Esposito, Carl Weathers and Temeura Morrison, among others, to pull back the curtain on the show, returning to the streamer in February 2023.
“I’ve always loved Star Wars. I grew up watching Star Wars. The type of story that I wanted to tell really suited the small screen,” Favreau told the crowd. “And it was also an opportunity to bring new people in who might not be up on all the lore. What we were most proud of was people were not just watching our show, but all of the viewership was going up for the movies and the animated series.”
Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni take the stage to massive applause as #TheMandalorian panel at #StarWarsCelebration gets underway pic.twitter.com/gwe5WKIF2o
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) May 28, 2022
The upcoming Mandalorian season was set up via a few episodes of the spinoff series The Book of Boba Fett, which starred Temuera Morrison. The Mandalorian also lead to the upcoming spinoff series Ahsoka, starring Rosario Dawson as the fan-favorite Jedi Knight. Production of that series — written by Filoni, and executive produced by Filoni and Favreau — began earlier this year.
“It’s the closest I’ve come to being a dad,” Pascal joked about his scene-stealing co-star Grogu, aka Baby Yoda, after he arrived on stage to a standing ovation. Added Favreau concerning Grogu’s decision to stay with Din Djarin (Pascal) rather than be trained as a Jedi by Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), “Bonds and families form in interesting ways… it’s not always by blood.”
Said Esposito, “When you work with folks who allow you to extend yourself, that empowered me. And I thought isn’t there what our show is about, being empowered?”
Boba Fett himself, Temuera Morrison, takes the stage with a traditional Haka during #TheMandalorian panel at #StarWarsCelebration pic.twitter.com/DzrHmT7PhQ
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) May 28, 2022
It was reported this week that Bryce Dallas Howard would return to direct at least one episode of season three. Howard directed the season one episode “Sanctuary” and the season two episode “The Heiress.” She also helmed one of the standout episodes of Book of Boba Fett, the Mando-centric episode, “Return of the Mandalorian.”
During the panel, it was revealed that Weathers directed one episode of season three. “It’s a wonderful sandbox to play in,” he said of the experience.
Fans lucky enough to make it into the convention center’s main hall Saturday for the panel were treated to the trailer for the third season. After the trailer played, the hall went into a frenzy, the enormous crowd yelling for the preview to be played again.
It is unclear when the trailer will drop online.
In addition to Mandalorian, the was some Ahsoka news out of the panel. Natasha Liu Bordizzo was revealed to be playing Sabine Wren. The actress joined the massive panel to enormous cheers and applause.
Natasha Liu Bordizzo, the actress who will play Sabine Wren in #Ahsoka, makes a surprise appearance at #StarWarsCelebration’s #TheMandalorian panel pic.twitter.com/gJtDfEqn0J
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) May 28, 2022
Sydney Odman and Ryan Fish contributed to this report.
Source: Hollywood
