The Mandalorian The Mandalorian: General Thread

[KaijuDude1992]

It's great that we finally have an official release date, but man does it seem like October is going to be absolutely stacked with shows. I don't know how I'm going to process or manage the insanity of Warrior Season 2, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Primal Season 2, Star Trek Discovery Season 3 and The Mandolarian Season 2 all dropping the same month, but I am ready for it, especially after how crappy this year has been so far.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

It's great that we finally have an official release date, but man does it seem like October is going to be absolutely stacked with shows. I don't know how I'm going to process or manage the insanity of Warrior Season 2, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Primal Season 2, Star Trek Discovery Season 3 and The Mandolarian Season 2 all dropping the same month, but I am ready for it, especially after how crappy this year has been so far.

I am going to have to space them out. Make them last considering it might be all we get for while. Makes me appreciate the weekly Mando releases.

 

[MadVillainy]

Very excited for this. One of my favorite shows right now. Hope it lives up to season 1. Guess I need to go back and rewatch

 

[harlequinade]

Finally. I need more Pedro and Baby Yoda

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Great news on the date for season 2. Got a few shows to finish in between so good timing.

 

[Iceman]

We have our season 2 premier date at least (with this announcement, I would think the trailer would be coming pretty soon)

Awesome. Not long at all.

 

[Pennywise]

https://twitter.com/TheCarlWeathers...an-carl-weathers-greef-karga-return-season-2/

 

[metaphysician]

I am confused. I was told multiple times Star Wars was dead and Disney killed it.

No reason Disney can't have simultaneously killed *and* revived Star Wars, given that "Disney" isn't actually a monolith.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

No reason Disney can't have simultaneously killed *and* revived Star Wars, given that "Disney" isn't actually a monolith.

 

[metaphysician]

Mando maybe, but how does the popularity of the The Boys stands up to the Witcher and a little show known as Stranger Things?

I'd much rather watch the Witcher than the Boys. At least with the Witcher you have some people who are neither monsters nor victims.

( No, I do not consider the titular "Boys" to be heroes. Not even close. They are bigoted terrorists who just happen to be trying to kill targets who happen to be evil. . . at the moment. )

 

[Zorro]

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Very excited for this. One of my favorite shows right now. Hope it lives up to season 1. Guess I need to go back and rewatch

What is a rewatch called when you have already done the show like 5 times?

 

[Karelia]

Yeah, I think I've rewatched it at least 3 times now. Even came to like the more filler-y episodes in the middle. Hurry up S2!

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Silvermoon]

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

This is the way.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[BrollySupersj]

Mhmmm, it's Mando season baby.

 

[Breogan]

F'yeah, back to Tatooine,
I guess this is where he'll run into Olyphant's Fauxba-Fett

 

[Pennywise]

'The Mandalorian' exclusive: First look inside season 2

Expect the Outer Rim to get a lot more crowded in season 2. While Disney has not confirmed any new cast members or their characters, there's a rogue's gallery of actors who seem optimized for a Comic-Con panel reportedly coming on board: Rosario Dawson (Sin City) as Clone Wars fan favorite Jedi apostate Ahsoka Tano, Temuera Morrison (who played Jango Fett in the prequels) playing presumably some version of a clone trooper or iconic bounty hunter Boba Fett, Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) as a live-action version of Bo-Katan Kryze, and also Michael Biehn (The Terminator) and Timothy Olyphant (Justified) as unknown characters.

“Some of them are true, some are not true,” says Gina Carano, who plays mercenary Cara Dune on the show. Carano notes the heightened secrecy included actors getting scripts only for their own episodes and being ushered to sets in black cloaks and hoods like incognito Sith Lords.”

“The new season is about introducing a larger story in the world,” says Favreau. “The stories become less isolated, yet each episode has its own flavor, and hopefully we’re bringing a lot more scope to the show.” Adds Filoni, “Everything gets bigger, the stakes get higher, but also the personal story between the Child and the Mandalorian develops in a way I think people will enjoy.”

And while the first season’s episodes very strictly focused on Mando, season 2 adds new storytelling angles. “As we introduce other characters, there are opportunities to follow different storylines,” Favreau says. “The world was really captivated by Game of Thrones and how that evolved as the characters followed different storylines — that's very appealing to me as an audience member.”

The larger scope was aided by having fewer start-up costs for the second round, which meant a greater percentage of the show’s big budget (estimated at $100 million for the first season) will wind up on the screen. Once again, there will be eight episodes of different lengths (“There’s probably even variation [in episode lengths] this year,” Favreau notes), and directors include season 1 standout Rick Famuyiwa, Carl Weathers (who plays bounty hunter guild chief Greef Karga on the show), franchise newcomer Robert Rodriguez (Alita: Battle Angel), and, for the first time, Favreau himself, who helmed the season premiere airing Oct. 30.

As Mando and the Child continue their quest, expect the bounty hunter to face a series of obstacles that will increasingly challenge his paternal loyalty to his ward. “We start very directly after the first [season] and he's going into very dangerous territory," Pascal, 45, says. "He is very much a passenger to the experience in unexpected ways — not knowing what’s to come, not knowing how much or how best to protect the Child. We don’t know how far he will go to do that, and they’re finding new ways to push the envelope.”

In addition to wearing a helmet nearly all the time on screen, Pascal points out that Mando’s motivations are largely obscured as well. “On a moment-to-moment basis, he’s discovering that question: ‘What do you want?’” the Game of Thrones veteran says. “That isn’t clear to him, or to me." Adds Filoni, “We think we know how the characters are going to react, and it can be surprising how they do react.”

Mando and the Child are pursued by Gideon, who will serve as a source of temptation, in the classic tradition of Star Wars villains trying to lure heroes down darker paths. “I’ll be going toe-to-toe with Mando,” says Esposito, who was nominated for an Emmy for his first-season performance. “It’s an iconic battle. I want to disarm him mentally as well. Who knows? Maybe there’s an opportunity to get him to fight some battles for me. You may think I’m a villain, but I’m trying to harness some energy and some powers for a path that could be best for all. You'll get to see him be somewhat diplomatic and more of a manipulator."

And as for that Darksaber, in the new episodes Gideon demonstrates he’s quite adept at wielding it. “It’s so exciting for me to be in a show where I can wear a cape and own it, and where I can have a lightsaber and really own it,” says Esposito, 62, who will also command “a larger vehicle, hint-hint” and spend some one-on-one time with the Child (the idea of Gus Fring facing off with Baby Yoda is alone worth the new season’s price of admission).

Then by season 2, even on a show full of celebrity talent, when guests visited the set, nobody was a bigger draw then the green 16-inch puppet. "Last season, the Child was on set and we weren't sure with the puppet if we would even use much of it — and it turned out, we used a lot of it," Filoni says. "But in season 2, he was the biggest thing on the set. There was a total shift around him. Everybody liked him before, but he wasn't quite the celebrity that he was in season 2. This time, he was quite a big deal." Adds Esposito: "Even as a puppet, you can't walk by the Child without having an interaction, because it's so very sweet and innocent."

One major visitor to the season 2 set was Lucas himself, who stopped by to watch some filming while Filoni was directing. Actors who worked with the Star Wars creator on the original trilogy have famously said Lucas' most common direction to his actors was go "faster" and "more intense." Even after 40 years, some things have not changed. "He would be giving Dave a hard time about how many setups he was getting and how fast he was shooting and urging him to go faster," Favreau says. "He was like a boxer's corner man coaching him, but always with a twinkle in his eye."

Other familiar supporting players like Karga are back too, and the bounty hunter is “on a quest to be more legitimate,” Weathers, 72, says, "but I'm not sure there isn't something in the back of his mind that isn't more self-involved." Karga has grown closer to mercenary Cara Dune to the point where they “almost finish each other’s sentences.”

While former MMA fighter Carano, 38 — who made her dramatic TV debut with this role — says she’s more confident this time around, explaining she was helped by Pascal agreeing to remove Mando’s helmet during their scenes whenever the camera was only on her. “I really wanted to see his eyes, which really helped,” she says.

Pascal has continued to refine his Mando performance, continually trying to figure out how much he can convey with how little he can do. "Which is a strange thing to say in a world like this where there are so many things that are just larger than life," Pascal says. "All of these galaxies and planets and ships and action sequences and creatures and stuff. And yet, ironically, as far as what I believe works in terms of storytelling, it's the very small physical gesture, those specific intonations in a voice, that make him compelling. A little goes a long way."

Their filming fortuitously wrapped just four days before the industrywide COVID-19 shutdown in March. But the team then had to figure out its labor-intensive postproduction process in the pandemic era. The biggest challenge was pulling off Ludwig Göransson’s orchestral score. “We had to have people either recording remotely, or in much smaller groups, distanced very far apart,” Favreau says. “I’m hearing the music now as we’re mixing episodes, and it’s remarkable what they were able to achieve under the circumstances.”

The breakout success of season 1 has fandom anticipation for the new episodes running extremely high. If Favreau is correct that The Mandalorian benefited from low expectations, there will be no such grading on a curve this time. Yet nobody sounds worried. “I have no question fans are going to like this season even more — everything’s in there,” Carano says. “If you’re a Star Wars fan, you’re going to get to see things you’ve always wanted to see.”

Or, as Filoni reliably puts it: “You want The Empire Strikes Back to be better than A New Hope.”

 

[Breogan]

We done with the hover-pram for this ep.?
I'm glad they went with a satchel and not the front-facing baby-carrier LOL!

Jet-pack & Speeder !!!
Is that a first?
Should be an interesting combo!

 

[MadVillainy]

Not necessarily Mando related but it made my laugh


She is really unhinged all over her feed

 

[Albright]

She‘s not wrong...but that’s another story

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

Not necessarily Mando related but it made my laugh


She is really unhinged all over her feed

Why would it make you laugh? Nothing is funny about someone wanting to go to church.

 

[Sawyer]

Not necessarily Mando related but it made my laugh


She is really unhinged all over her feed

What I’m getting out of her tweets is that if she was like... ten percent less famous, her dumb ass would be screaming this stuff on Fox News on a regular basis.