Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau are taking the stage to discuss what we’ve seen from The Mandalorian and what’s to come! The oanel was hosted by Ash Crosnan with some extra seats for special guests during the panel. There’s plenty of news about The Mandalorian and more! So lets dig in!
Check out our coverage of Thursday’s Lucasfilm Panel here!
They started off talking to Filoni and Favreau. “It’s been a dream come true,” Favreau says of the journey. “I wanted to really pare it down to a few characters a personal story set in that world…and also an opportunity to bring new people in who might not be up on the lore. This became an entry ramp. As we’ve introduced characters that existed before, thanks to the Disney+ streaming service, they could go and watch everything.”
As for the big secrets they had to keep, Grogu and Luke were the two biggest ones.
“I was just glad it was in the first episode,” Filoni said.
“Then the second season, it was the last episode,” Favreau said of keeping secrets, referring to Luke Skywalker’s appearance. “A lot of secrecy but every other secret we’ve ever had has come out. We’ve never made a casting announcement.”
Then, in a huge surprise, Pedro Pascal joined the stage!
“It’s the closest I’ve come to being a dad.” Pedro Pascal had some choice words for Grogu.
After that Pedro Pascal introduced Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder as “two other daddies” for Grogu. All three have played The Mandalorian at various stages of the show.
Here’s what Jon Favreau had to say about Grogu’s journey.
“What was interesting was that we already had the plan to have Luke train him in that but what was very interesting was that we only had six or seven shots in the previous season. We thought he looked okay but we wanted him to look better. We were actively solving that visual effect as we were dong it and he got a lot more screen time in that part of the story. In that time period, it just makes sense Luke should be the one to train him…How he’s interacting with Grogu was a way to explore his philosophy…Like everything we do, there was a tremendous amount of thought we put into that…Bringing together Jon’s character and George’s character, I wanted to see over that.”
Giancarlo Esposito, Emily Swallow, and Carl Weathers joined the stage after that!
Jon Favreau was endlessly confident that Giancarlo Esposito would be a great villain.
“Jon looked at me and said ‘you’ve done this a long time, I trust you’… that empowered me.”
Emily Swallow had this to say about Star Wars and family.
“The importance of family, the importance of community… that’s why I love these stories so much.”
Carl Weathers lets slip that The Mandalorian Season Three is coming in Spring of 2023.
As for directing episodes Weathers was heaping praise on the show. “It’s a wonderful sandbox to play in.”
Then, we got Boba Fett himself, Temuera Morrison! It’s a huge reunion for the cast.
He began by talking about Attack of the Clones: “We had a wonderful time in Sydney,” he said. “Many, many, many years later, I think Boba had to look a little bit like me, so. I want to thank everybody. Ming-Na sends her apologies…We have a lot of crew and people behind the scenes out there in the crowd with us. They’re the ones who work hard making us looking good in front of the camera so I want to acknowledge everybody from our crew..”
Rick Famuyiwa was out next, he’s directed some of the best episodes of The Mandalorian. “For some reason Jon saw my film Dope and said, ‘that’s Star Wars material.”
“The moment I saw that opening crawl, my life was changed forever.” Rick on seeing Star Wars for the first time.
It couldn’t be a panel about The Mandalorian without Katee Sackhoff though. Bo-Katan joined the panel. “My dad raised me on strong characters. When I was little, you didn’t have many strong female characters to choose from… to be able to play the women I’ve been able to play throughout my career has been such a gift.”
Then they showed the same teaser trailer from the Thursday panel but with some additional footage of what looks like Babu-Frik, a Star Destroyer, and the ruins of Mandalore.
Rosario Dawson joined the stage! She wasn’t able to make the Thursday panel, but she’s here now!
Dawson talked about how shes always wanted to play Ahsoka. She was the first choice all along. Then she brought out the droid Chopper.
A short teaser from Ahsoka was shown. She ignites her lightsabers, Sabine was shown from the back, and Ezra was teased. Actress Natasha Liu Bordizzo will play Sabine.
Here’s what she had to say about the part: “I feel like I’ve just been adopted into a new family. “I know how much Sabine means to you, and after watching Star Wars Rebels, she means so much to me as well.”
Hera from Rebels was also confirmed for the series, but no casting info was given.
This article will be updated as news breaks during the panel.
For more on Star Wars, make sure to check back to That Hashtag Show.
