The Mandalorian Creator Reveals Big Season 2 Finale Surprise Was Not Always Planned
From the very beginning, The Mandalorian Season 2 was brimming with major surprises- whether it was the appearance of Boba Fett, the amped-up adorableness of Baby Grogu (whose name reveal was a bombshell revelation in itself), the live-action debut of Ahsoka Tano, and whatnot. But nothing compared to the action-packed season finale which ended with the out-of-the-blue appearance of the legendary Jedi Master, Luke Skywalker. Surely, something of this scale would have been planned from the beginning? Well, series creator Jon Favreau has revealed that initially there were no plans of bringing Mark Hamill back to the world of Star Wars.
So, if you thought that Jon Favreau always planned for a digitally de-aged Mark Hamill to slay Dark Troopers in perfect Darth Vader style and then emerge from a door to whisk Grogu away, think again.
“The story unfolded as I wrote it. The Mandalorian inherits a great deal from existing Star Wars stories, and when I write, that context is always a consideration. It became clear that, within the established continuity, certain things were likely to transpire.”
What really helped in bringing Luke Skywalker to life once more was the gaps between the films, which means there are durations in the Jedi’s life that are up for speculation. As we know, the appearance of Luke confirms what has already been established- that The Mandalorian takes place a few years after the events in Return of the Jedi. Details about what Luke was doing before The Force Awakens are far and few in between, which made it easier to add the beloved Star Wars character to the Disney+ series.
“We have a tremendous amount of freedom afforded to us because of the gap in time between the films,” Favreau explained. “[Writer/producer] Dave Filoni and I are in constant discussion regarding how each story choice is impacted by, and would impact, existing Star Wars material.”
While the idea of Luke Skywalker’s arrival came into being after work on the script began, what Favreau had in his mind for years was Baby Grogu! He had the idea of The Child for a “long time,” knowing that he would be perfect for the mystical world of Star Wars and thus always wanted to make something that revolved around the wonder and vulnerability he could bring to a story.
“That was a character I was thinking about for a long time before this series, an idea that I had had that when the streaming service began, that was part of the initial pitch. That was a character I thought would fit well into Star Wars, but it wasn’t until it was drawn and rendered, that it started to work. And if you look at Disney gallery, which shows behind the scenes, we do a deep dive on it, showing how it developed over time. It was finding the right look with the artists, that was also a big deal. So there was the tradition of that relationship as well of the juxtaposition of this hardened gunslinger up next to this very emotive, vulnerable child seemed like it had a lot of good story tension.”
Well, planned in advance or not, The Mandalorian Season 2 was nothing if not amazingly perfect. But we will have to wait a long while for its Season 3 which begins filming in April this year. Given that the second season began filming in October 2019 and premiered in October 2020, it is only obvious that the next instalment is heading for an early 2022 release. The news comes to us via WGA.
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