What You Need to Know About The Mandalorian Coming to Disney+

Earlier this week we learned a lot about the new Disney+ streaming service, and there are honestly so many shows that I am excited for. It seems like all of my favorite Marvel characters are making their way to the small screen and I cannot wait. But one show in particular I have been waiting to hear more details about since it was announced, The Mandalorian. This is going to be the FIRST live action Star Wars television show, which is a big deal. Thanks to Disney, I was able to attend the panel at Star Wars Celebration today, where I learned so much about what is sure to be an amazing show!

Jon Favreau & Dave Filoni

I was super excited about this panel because I love Jon Favreau, who is the executive producer and writer. I knew he was going to be at this panel, along with the executive producer and director, Dave Filoni (if you haven’t checked out my Star Wars Rebels interview with him yet, you are missing out). Anyways, I have also been a long time fan of Boba Fett, who is a Mandalorian. This show takes place in a time where chaos is taking over, and only the strong survive.

“The Mando” as many called him in this panel is a lone gunfighter with questionable moral character. Sounds like a character I will surely love. The name of his ship is the Razer Crest, and it looks amazing! They showed us some footage of the process of creating it, which was super cool. We learned that The Mandalorian is getting back to the roots of what inspired George Lucas – the old westerns and samurai films. They wanted to bring in elements form everywhere. After seeing tons of footage I can agree, they created something that would bring everything together, even pulling stuff in from Legends.

So Much Amazing Footage

Knowing that the investor’s meeting got some footage had me on high alert to see something today. But I could not have been prepared for what we saw because it was amazing! There were three sets of EXCLUSIVE footage that rolled, and I cannot wait for you all to see it. I had chills throughout many of the scenes and saw.

This is a place that we have never seen before in a time we have never seen before, taking place 5 years after Return of The Jedi. The fans that have been around for 40 years will see and hear a lot of things that will have them hyped (“I like those odds“). But there are also new characters and stories so people can jump in if they don’t know anything about Star Wars. Hardcore fans, don’t worry, they told us a lot of care went in to all the details.

The reaction after #TheMandalorian footage! #StarWarsCelebration pic.twitter.com/CEBj4qBJQs

— Tessa Smith – Mama's Geeky (@MamasGeeky) April 14, 2019

What exactly did we see? Well, there were some Kowakian monkey-lizards being roasted on a spit. We saw IG-88 (voiced by Taika Waititi) in action. The Mandalorian himself looks amazing and bad ass – but we totally saw him take on Gina Carano’s character and she held her own! The footage itself truly had that western feel, and seemed very “Rogue One”.

The 501st Joined in the Filming

In a production meeting, there were only so many Storm Trooper uniforms that we had, but we feared it wasn’t enough. Dave – late on a Thursday, early on a Friday we put a call out that we needed Storm Troopers. A bunch of the 501st came down and the didn’t even know what for. They look like Storm Troopers and they act like Storm Troopers.

Members of The Cast

Pedro Pascal, who was Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones, is starring in this new series so I was hoping to see him show up. And he did! When he described finding out he was playing THE MANDALORIAN (and not a bug or robot), you could just see the emotions on his face.

Gina Carano plays Kara Dunne and she is a fighter! Gina was really excited to be a part of the Star Wars family, even calling it “kick ass”. Her character is an ex rebel shock trooper – yea. Sounds pretty amazing, doesn’t it? She said that on set all the passion trickled down from Jon and Dave to the rest of the cast. There were even times that Jon teared up on set when explaining what a certain scene would mean.

We also found out that Carl Weathers is playing Greef Marda, who is the head of the guild of bounty hunters. He sends “The Mando” out and he gets done what needs to be done. Carl said that this feels like this is the biggest thing he has ever done. Which says a lot. Because, you know, Rocky.

This show alone is going to make the $6.99 a month price point for Disney+ worth it to me. My husband is a huge Mandalorian fan, so I know he is going to be just as excited as me, if not more, when I tell him everything I learned at the Star Wars Celebration panel.

The Mandalorian is scheduled to premiere on Disney+ on November 12, 2019.