The coronavirus pandemic shut down film and TV productions around the world, but The Mandalorian remains on track to debut season two in October on Disney+.
“We were lucky enough to have finished photography before the lock down,” executive producer Jon Favreau said during a virtual panel for the ATX Television Festival moderated by Vanity Fair‘s Anthony Breznican. “Thanks to how technology-forward Lucasfilm and ILM are, we have been able to do all of our visual effects and editing and postproduction remotely through systems that had been set up by those companies for us.”
The Mandalorian stars Pedro Pascal as a mysterious bounty hunter inhabiting the Star Wars galaxy, with supporting castmembers including Gina Carano, Giancarlo Esposito and Carl Weathers. Over the past few months, details have leaked out about season two of the series, including the addition of actors Rosario Dawson, Timothy Olyphant, Temuera Morrison and Michael Biehn to the roster. Filmmakers taking on directing duties include series creator Favreau and executive producer Dave Filoni as well as Ant-Man‘s Peyton Reed and Sin City‘s Robert Rodriguez.
Favreau noted that due to the rigors of the TV schedule, season two feels like a continuation of season one rather than a new thing.
“As we explore partnering with new filmmakers and having new characters and going deeper with the characters we already have, it’s really been very fun and fulfilling and I hope people are having as much fun seeing it as we are having making it,” Favreau said.
The filmmaker was joined by Mandalorian directors Filoni, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rick Famuyiwa, Deborah Chow and Taika Waititi. The latter two have other Star Wars projects in the works, with Chow set to director an Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ series, while Waititi is developing his own Star Wars film.
“It’s all finished, I’m done,” Waititi said, jokingly when asked about his film’s status. Added Chow of Obi-Wan, “We have a little more to do than that, but we are in development still.”
Disney+ does not release viewership data, but the first season of The Mandalorian made a big splash on the pop culture landscape. Baby Yoda became a surprise breakout character, and Disney’s Bob Iger has noted the show will go beyond season two and could even spin off characters into their own series.
