The Mandalorian

The Mandalorian is an upcoming American space-opera web television series scheduled to premiere on Disney+ on November 12, 2019. Set in the Star Wars universe, the series will take place five years after the events of Return of the Jedi, and follows a lone Mandalorian gunfighter beyond the reaches of the New Republic.

Jon Favreau served as a writer, creator, and showrunner, and will executive-produce alongside Dave Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy, and Colin Wilson. Pedro Pascal, Gina Carano, Nick Nolte, Giancarlo Esposito, Emily Swallow, Carl Weathers, Omid Abtahi, and Werner Herzog star. There will be eight episodes in the first season.

Premise
The Mandalorian takes place "after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order" and follows "a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic."

Cast and characters

 * Pedro Pascal as the Mandalorian
 * Gina Carano as Cara Dune, "a former Rebel Shock Trooper"
 * Nick Nolte
 * Giancarlo Esposito
 * Carl Weathers as Greef Carga, the leader of a bounty hunter guild who hires the Mandalorian to track a valuable asset
 * Emily Swallow
 * Omid Abtahi as Dr. Pershing
 * Werner Herzog
 * Taika Waititi as the voice of IG-11
 * Bill Burr
 * Mark Boone Junior

Additionally, members of the 501st Legion were called in to play stormtrooper extras.

Background
A live-action Star Wars TV series entered production in early 2009, with over 50 scripts produced by 2012, but due to their complex content, they were deemed too expensive to produce. Its title was to have been Star Wars: Underworld. In January 2013, following the 2012 sale of Lucasfilm to The Walt Disney Company, then-president of the ABC television network Paul Lee spoke to the current status of the series commenting that "We'd love to do something with Lucasfilm, we're not sure what yet. We haven't even sat down with them. We're going to look at [the live-action series], we're going to look at all of them, and see what's right. We weren't able to discuss this with them until [the acquisition] closed and it just closed. It's definitely going to be part of the conversation." In June 2014, more details regarding the series were revealed, including that Boba Fett would have appeared.

Development


On November 9, 2017, it was announced that Disney and Lucasfilm were developing a new live-action Star Wars television series for Disney's then-unnamed upcoming streaming service. The announcement was made by Walt Disney Company chairman and CEO Bob Iger while on a quarterly earnings call with investors. On February 6, 2018, it was reported that Iger had revealed during another financial report conference call with investors that multiple Star Wars live-action series were actually in development by Disney saying, "We are developing not just one, but a few Star Wars series specifically for the Disney direct-to-consumer app. We've mentioned that and we are close to being able to reveal at least one of the entities that is developing that for us. Because the deal isn't completely closed, we can't be specific about that. I think you'll find the level of talent ... on the television front will be rather significant as well."

On March 8, 2018, it was announced that the forthcoming series would be written and executive produced by Jon Favreau. In May 2018, Favreau said that the series would be set three years after the end of Return of the Jedi, and that half of the scripts for the first season had been completed. On August 5, it was reported that the series had been budgeted around $100 million for 10 episodes. On October 3, it was announced that the series had been titled The Mandalorian and the show's central premise was revealed. The following day, it was revealed that additional executive producers would include Dave Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy, and Colin Wilson with Karen Gilchrist acting as a co-executive producer. Filoni was also expected to direct the series' first episode with additional directors including Taika Waititi, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rick Famuyiwa, and Deborah Chow. On December 19, it was announced that Ludwig Göransson would compose the musical score for the series.

Casting
In November 2018, it was announced that Pedro Pascal, Gina Carano, and Nick Nolte had been cast in starring roles. On December 12, 2018, it was announced that Giancarlo Esposito, Carl Weathers, Emily Swallow, Omid Abtahi, and Werner Herzog had joined the main cast. On March 21, 2019, Taika Waititi was revealed to be recording a voice for the series, speculated to be bounty hunter droid IG-88, but which turned out to be a new character named IG-11. Footage shown at the Star Wars Celebration in April 2019 revealed that Bill Burr and Mark Boone Junior were in the series, with Burr portraying an outlaw.

Filming
Principal photography for the series reportedly began during the first week of October 2018 in Southern California. On October 19, George Lucas visited the set of the series as a birthday surprise for Favreau; it was later revealed that Lucas had some level of involvement in creating the show. On October 25, it was reported that police were investigating the grand theft of several unspecified items from The Mandalorian set at the Manhattan Beach Studios campus in Manhattan Beach, California. Filming for the series wrapped on February 27, 2019.

Visual effects
Visual effects studio Industrial Light & Magic, a subsidiary of Lucasfilm, opened a new division in November 2018 targeted for streaming and episodic television called ILM TV. Based in London with support from the company's locations in San Francisco, Vancouver, and Singapore, it is expected that the new division will work extensively on live-action Star Wars television series, starting with The Mandalorian.

Release
The Mandalorian is scheduled to premiere its first episode on November 12, 2019, on the streaming service Disney+, in the United States, in 4K HDR.

Marketing
On October 4, 2018, the first promotional image from the series was released, featuring a Mandalorian with a rifle. About a week later, Favreau released a photo through his official Instagram account featuring a rifle with a two-pronged barrel, an apparent callback to Boba Fett's weapon in The Star Wars Holiday Special. Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, and the main cast hosted a Mandalorian panel at Star Wars Celebration Chicago on April 14, 2019, where the first footage premiered to fans in attendance.