Nothing can stop the Mandalorian, not even a pandemic. Showrunner Jon Favreau said season two of is moving right along and should be ready in time for its October debut, on Disey+ because they’re already done filming.
Speaking at a virtual panel for the ATX Television Festival (via The Hollywood Reporter), Favreau said principal photography was completed pre-pandemic on season two of The Mandalorian, which sees Pedro Pascal return as the Baby Yoda-cuddling bounty hunter on the run from Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) and the rest of the Galactic Empire. He said Lucasfilm has managed to transition the show’s postproduction into a remote working environment, and everything is moving relatively smoothly.
“We were lucky enough to have finished photography before the lock down,” Favreau said. “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.”
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2020/06/the-mandalorian-had-its-entire-season-pre-visualized-before-filming-began/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/06/zpd8dimgmmx496cwjwqt-300×169.jpg” title=”The Mandalorian Had Its Entire Season Pre-Visualized Before Filming Began” excerpt=”If someone were to say that a fully animated version of The Mandalorian exists, they wouldn’t be wrong. They wouldn’t be quite right either, but the truth behind the tale is fascinating.”]
It’s no surprise The Mandalorian hasn’t lost steam, in spite of the novel coronavirus having shut down studios around the world (some of which are just now beginning to open up). The show is run like a major Hollywood movie. As was recently revealed in the behind-the-scenes series on Disney+, the entire first season was pre-visualized ahead of time — directors worked with the effects team to animated sequences and scenes, making most of the major directorial decisions before the cameras even started to roll. Presumably, this was repeated for the second season.
Pascal is expected to be joined by returning cast members Esposito, Gina Carano, and Carl Weathers. As far as what new characters we can expect, reports have revealed that Rosario Dawson will appear as Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ Ahsoka Tano and Temuera Morrison (who played Jango Fett in the prequels) is set to play bounty hunter, Boba Fett. In addition, Timothy Olyphant and Michael Biehn have joined the cast. Favreau didn’t address any of the reports directly but teased the fresh faces coming to the show in front of and behind the camera.
“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,” he said.
The Mandalorian season two is set to arrive in October.