What you may not know about The Mandalorian

In October 2018, Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau (more on him in a bit) posted a picture on Instagram that evoked the classic Star Wars opening crawl and laid out exactly what The Mandalorian will be about.  The series will focus on "the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic," and will explore the rocky transition from the Galactic Empire to a brand new government.

If that makes The Mandalorian sound like a western, that's not an accident. At Star Wars Celebration 2019, Favreau and fellow producer Dave Filoni confirmed that The Mandalorian, like the original Star Wars, is heavily inspired by both spaghetti westerns and Akira Kurosawa's samurai films. Like the heroes in those stories, the Mandalorian is a lone fighter "of questionable moral character" who flies a ship called the Razor Crest and does whatever it takes to survive.

Plot specifics are still slim, but we know that actor Pedro Pascal is modeling the Mandalorian on Clint Eastwood, and that the gunslinger will run across a character named Greef, the head of a loose coalition of bounty hunters who has a special mission for the titular character. According to clips shown to the Star Wars Celebration audience, he'll also cross paths with an old Imperial loyalist who wants to see the Empire take back control of the galaxy — and it sounds like the Mandalorian isn't totally against the idea.

Here's a little secret: he might dress like one, but Boba Fett isn't actually a Mandalorian, at least not in the new, Disney-ified canon. In The Clone Wars episode "The Mandalore Plot," the Mandalorian Prime Minister tells Obi-Wan Kenobi that Boba's dad, Jango, is just a regular ol' bounty hunter who wears someone else's armor.

But, thanks to Boba, we knew what a Mandalorian looked like decades before we knew anything about them as a people, and The Mandalorian wouldn't be the same without him. Boba Fett debuted during the Star Wars Holiday Special, and while the rest of the program isn't worth your time, Nelvana Studios' animated short "The Faithful Wookiee" absolutely is. Not only does the sequence make Fett cooler than the movies ever did — no falling into man-eating pits here — but the design ended up influencing both how the Mandalorians looked on The Clone Wars and The Mandalorian's costume, too. That big ol' holster, the narrow visor, the natural color scheme, and the visible battle damage? Those are all Nelvana.

The Holiday Special short also gives an idea as to what The Mandalorian might look like. In fact, Nelvana's animators looked to westerns when storyboarding the short. "The Faithful Wookiee's" surreal landscapes and the dinosaur that Boba rustles and rides might be a little too fanciful for live-action TV, but if you want to see Star Wars reimagined as a spaghetti western, you don't have to wait for The Mandalorian's premiere. There's already an example out in the wild.

You might've noticed that Jon Favreau's name comes up quite a bit when talking about The Mandalorian. There's a very good reason for that: the accomplished director is running the whole shebang. As Disney's initial press release states, Favreau is executive producing and writing The Mandalorian, and while he's not on the series' list of directors, we're confident that The Mandalorian is in pretty good hands.

See, in addition to flicks like Elf, Zathura, and Chef, Favreau directed a little something called Iron Man. You know, the movie that single-handedly launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe, revitalized Robert Downey Jr.'s career, and made Tony Stark a household name? Yeah, that Iron Man. Favreau also served as a producer on The Avengers and helmed Disney's live-action Jungle Book and Lion King adaptations. In other words, he's got a flair for making special effects-driven dramas that are also full of humor and heart, and he's an old pro when it comes to launching franchises. Sound like a good fit for Star Wars? Yeah, we thought so too.

Not only that, but Favreau has already proven his Star Wars bona fides: as an actor, he's participated in not one but two separate Star Wars projects. If you saw Solo, you might recognize Favreau as the voice of Rio Durant, Tobias Beckett's multi-armed pilot. The Mandalorian won't be Favreau's first dalliance with the show's titular warrior race, either. On The Clone Wars, Favreau played Pre Vizsla, the exile who started the Mandalorian Civil War, helped the Shadow Collective conquer the planet, and ultimately met his demise at the wrong end of Darth Maul's lightsaber.

The Mandalorian won't be short on star power, at least not behind the camera. Reports say the show has a 10-episode first series, and Disney shared a list of some of the people who'll be directing a few of the episodes. Buckle up. It's a doozy.

Dave Filoni's there, obviously, but by far the biggest name on the docket is New Zealand native Taiki Waititi. You know why that's exciting? Here are a few reasons: Eagle vs Shark. Flight of the Conchords. What We Do in the Shadows. Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Thor: Ragnarok. So, yeah, he's pretty good. On the other hand, Bryce Dallas Howard might be best known for her performances in projects like Jurassic World and Black Mirror, but she's wanted to get into directing for a while. In fact, Howard already has a number of short films under her belt, and besides, Star Wars runs in the family. Her Oscar-winning father, Ron, just directed Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Further down the list you'll find Rick Famuyiwa, director of the criminally underrated Dope, and Deborah Chow, a television veteran who's worked on shows like Jessica Jones, Mr. Robot, Better Call Saul, and The Man in the High Castle — y'know, just some of the best dramas currently on television. Honestly, it's hard to imagine a better lineup, but then again, it's not every day that you get to contribute to a cultural institution. We wouldn't be surprised if The Mandalorian has talent lined up around the block, just waiting for a shot at a galaxy far, far away.

Now, The Mandalorian isn't the first time that Lucasfilm has tried to bring live-action Star Wars to the small screen. The company has been working on this for a while. In 2005, George Lucas announced that a live-action Star Wars show was in development. The series, which was eventually known as Star Wars Underworld, was set between the prequel and original trilogies, and took place on the Imperial capital Coruscant, with a primary focus on the planet's seedy criminal underbelly. Allegedly, about 50 scripts were written before Underworld was put on hiatus.

The reason? It's all about the cash, baby. "The scripts were written as if money was no object," Battlestar Galactica mastermind Ronald D. Moore, who worked in Underworld's writers' room, told EW. According to Lucas, every episode would've been equivalent to a $20 million film, although he claimed he could produce it for a fraction of that by using his own facilities and digital technology. He wasn't willing to compromise his vision, either. If that meant postponing production until Underworld's special effects could be accomplished on a TV budget, well, then he'd just wait. That was 2011. In 2012, Disney bought Star Wars for $4 billion, and Underworld suddenly went into limbo.

In 2013, ABC's Paul Lee said that Disney, ABC's parent company, was reevaluating Underworld, and when Jon Favreau's series was announced, many fans wondered if some of Underworld (and 1313, Underworld's cancelled video game tie-in) would make its way into the new project. Given what we know now, probably not, although The Mandalorian inherited at least one thing from its predecessor: the price tag. Reportedly, every episode of the show will cost $10 million to make. Yikes.

With Disney reconsidering its approach to Star Wars spinoff films, the Skywalker saga coming to a close with 2019's Episode IX, and Rian Johnson's film series still years away, television looks like it'll be the go-to source for new Star Wars adventures in the near future. Thankfully, The Mandalorian won't be shouldering that burden all on its own. Not only is the Disney Channel cartoon Star Wars Resistance off to a strong start, but there are other Star Wars series coming to the Disney+ streaming service, too.

Unlike The Mandalorian, however, the other live-action Star Wars show will feature at least one familiar face. Diego Luna, who played Rebel spy Cassian Andor in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, will reprise his role in an untitled series set to debut at an unspecified date. The show will be set sometime before the events of Rogue One, and will reportedly focus on "the formative years of the Rebellion." Then there's the limited series focusing on Obi-Wan Kenobi's exploits after the fall of the Jedi, which will bring Ewan McGregor back to the role.

That means that The Mandalorian and the other shows won't directly overlap — they're set in two very different time periods — but it'd wouldn't be surprising to see one reference the other. Under Disney's stewardship, everything is connected. If a theme park, a novel, and possibly a movie can share a setting, it's pretty easy to imagine The Mandalorian picking up a character, vehicle, or planet from Andor's adventures. We'll just have to wait and see.

The first trailer for The Mandalorian dropped at Disney's 2019 D23 Expo, and while it's only a minute and a half long, it's crammed full of good stuff. Gorgeous cinematography that evokes old spaghetti westerns? References to Star Wars films from every era, even the made-for-TV Ewok movies and the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special? First looks at a whole bunch of colorful new characters, as well as some nods towards old favorites? It's all here.

Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau promised a series exploring the "darker, freakier side" of the galaxy, and even going by the trailer, it's clear that he wasn't kidding. Pablo Pascal's masked bounty hunter doesn't utter a single line during the video. He doesn't have to. Actions speak louder than words, and The Mandalorian trailer is full of action, including one of the most gruesome deaths in Star Wars history. (It involves a closing security door. You'll know it when you see it.)

If the rest of the series is that good, Star Wars fans are in for a treat when the first of The Mandalorian's eight episodes arrives.

All of Star Wars owes a huge debt to George Lucas — after all, the man created the entire darn thing — but The Mandalorian has some specific ties to Star Wars' great maker. For one, the show is heavily inspired by the first Star Wars movie, especially the opening act and the cantina scene, which Lucas directed (Lucas was creatively involved with The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, but didn't actually helm the features). The Mandalorian also uses technology originally developed for the Star Wars prequels, with 20-plus years of technical advancements added in.

However, as Breaking Bad and Mandalorian villain Giancarlo Esposito has revealed, Lucas' input on the series goes a lot deeper than that. According to Esposito, Lucas actually contributed some creative ideas to the show. While discussing The Mandalorian's impressive roster of directors with Collider, Esposito said that Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau " figured it out with George Lucas" himself, and was "working with George Lucas" directly.

Lucas and Favreau must've gotten along, because Lucas stopped by The Mandalorian set to surprise Favreau for the showrunner's 52nd birthday. Disney might be calling the shots at Star Wars these days, but Lucas' contributions certainly haven't been forgotten.

The Mandalorian isn't the only live-action Star Wars series coming to Disney+. In addition to Jon Favreau's neo-western, Disney is also prepping a Rogue One prequel starring Diego Luna's Cassian Andor and a six-episode miniseries in which Ewan McGregor will return to usher Obi-Wan Kenobi into middle age.

Technically, neither of these shows will cross over with The Mandalorian, but The Mandalorian has already had a direct effect on Disney's Obi-Wan series. Director Deborah Chow, who helmed two episodes of The Mandalorian, impressed Lucasfilm so much that the company gave her the complete Obi-Wan show to call her own.

Chow certainly has the chops to bring Obi-Wan to the small screen — in addition to The Mandalorian, she has directed episodes of Jessica Jones, Mr. Robot, and Better Call Saul. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy seems to agree. "We really wanted to select a director who is able to explore both the quiet determination and rich mystique of Obi-Wan," Kennedy said. "I'm absolutely confident Deborah is the right director to tell this story."

The Mandalorian takes place about five years after Return of the Jedi and 25 years before The Force Awakens, making the galaxy a very different place than what you're used to. The ragtag Rebel Alliance has transformed itself into the New Republic, a representative democracy that spans many known planets. At this point in Star Wars canon, the New Republic is in full swing, with a headquarters on the planet Chandrila. It has also passed the Military Disarmament Act, which drastically scaled back the New Republic's military, leaving behind only a small peacekeeping force.

The Galactic Empire, on the other hand, hasn't been as fortunate. After the Battle of Jakku brought the Galactic Civil War to a close, what remained of the main Imperial fleet retreated to the mysterious Unknown Regions, where it will eventually reform into the First Order. Not yet, though. The First Order is still years away.

It's a time of transition. Out on the Outer Rim, where The Mandalorian takes place, former Imperial warlords are scrambling to hold on to power. Former rebels are trying to figure out where they belong now that the fighting has stopped. Criminals try to profit off of the confusion, and The Mandalorian's main characters are all caught right in the middle of it.