THE NEXT EPISODE
UNTIL RECENTLY, IF someone asked you to name a famous Mandalorian (don’t scoff — it happens to Empire on a near-daily basis), you would have had precisely two answers. There’s Jango Fett, the helmet-wearing, armour-sporting, tough-as-nails mercenary who got decapitated by a Windu. And his son/ clone (it’s complicated), Boba Fett. Yes, the helmet-wearing, armour-sporting, tough-as-nails bounty hunter who got eaten alive by some kind of giant sandpit.
That’s it. Those were your only two choices. Well, not anymore. Now, Jon Favreau has helped out by creating The Mandalorian , the first-ever live-action Star Wars TV show. Now, there’s a third choice. Now, there’s Mando.
THE MANDALORIAN IS, essentially, about a helmet-wearing, armour-sporting, tough-as-nails bounty hunter (who has neither been decapitated by a Windu, nor eaten alive by some kind of giant sandpit), crisscrossing the galaxy in search of new marks. But it’s much more than that. In its own way, it’s as momentous a piece of Star Wars history as A New Hope , or The Force Awakens .
For it’s the flagship show of Disney+, the streaming-service arm of the studio, debuting to great acclaim last November. And it’s already been greenlit for a second season, which premieres later this year.
Other Star Wars shows are on the way, too — a Cassian Andor number that will give a solo spotlight to Diego Luna’s Rogue One, and the return of Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi — as well as a raft of new content from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But The Mandalorian is the big draw. The USP. In many ways, with the Skywalker Saga freshly concluded and no new Star Wars film due until December 2022, it’s the future of Star Wars .
