‘The Mandalorian’ Season 2: Production Was Much Closer to Shutting Down than Fans Realize
After Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, even the most ardent Star Wars fans could admit the saga needed a break. The movie provided the perfect opportunity to find other stories to tell. And so the “galaxy far, far away” made an effortless turn toward the small screen. With its popular debut on Disney+, The Mandalorian gave fans a new hope of what’s to come. But production nearly came to a screeching halt during season 2.
‘The Mandalorian’ Season 2 debuts on Disney+ in October 2020
During the November 2019 launch of Disney+, the streaming service touted The Mandalorian as its marquee attraction. Created by Jon Favreau (Iron Man, The Jungle Book), the show marked the saga’s first live-action TV series. And fans were not disappointed with its production values, its Western-inspired tone, and — of course — a certain tiny green alien.
Throughout season 1, The Mandalorian continually leans into the growing bond between “Baby Yoda” and the mysterious bounty hunter (Pedro Pascal). And with just eight episodes, it didn’t take long for fans to get anxious for season 2. Thankfully, Disney+ is set to roll out the next batch of episodes starting in October 2020. But that almost didn’t happen as planned.
The show was very close to dealing with a production delay
Pulling together a series as complex as The Mandalorian takes a lot of planning. In fact, director Bryce Dallas Howard never even worked with Pascal on the set. But perhaps more shocking is that season 2 was just days away from having to shut down production due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy told The Wrap.
It was literally five days and the country went down. We were enormously lucky, and then we didn’t wait [to finish postproduction]. Even though we wondered to what extent people could work remotely, our IT department and ILM had everybody up and running within a week, working from home and continuing to work in the cutting room and on visual effects shots. It was pretty staggering how quickly they got everybody up and running. So we haven’t really lost any time.
For Star Wars fans still practicing social distancing, that’s sure to be a relief. The Mandalorian has proven to be the rare bits of Star Wars content most fans can agree on. And the season 1 finale certainly set the stage for even more exciting developments to come.
Fans expect season 2 to lean into the larger ‘Star Wars’ universe
The reveal of the darksaber in the final moments of its first season indicates a warmer embrace of the saga’s mythology. And that seems to be what Favreau and company have in store for fans. The show will also likely reveal the story behind Grand Moff Gideon’s (Giancarlo Esposito) possession of the darksaber.
The Mandalorian Season 2 will even introduce several fan-favorite characters. Temuera Morrison — best known as Jango Fett in the prequel trilogy — will play Boba Fett this time around. And Rosario Dawson will reportedly join the cast as Ahsoka Tano. Plus, there’s the little matter of Baby Yoda’s mysterious home planet. Always in motion is the show’s future.
