The first photos are out from the second season of “Star Wars” live-action series “The Mandalorian” on the Disney+ streaming service.
EW published the shots along with a feature piece on the new season which picks up directly after the first with Mando embarking on a search for the Child’s own kind, while Moff Gideon was revealed to possess the mysterious ancient black-bladed weapon the Darksaber.
The new episodes have a bigger scope and are about opening up this world, which includes shifting the focus away from Mando a little bit. Favreau says:
“The new season is about introducing a larger story in the world. The stories become less isolated, yet each episode has its own flavor, and hopefully we’re bringing a lot more scope to the show. Everything gets bigger, the stakes get higher, but also the personal story between the Child and the Mandalorian develops in a way I think people will enjoy.
As we introduce other characters, there are opportunities to follow different storylines. The world was really captivated by Game of Thrones and how that evolved as the characters followed different storylines – that’s very appealing to me as an audience member.”
Once again there will be eight episodes of different lengths, though the variation of lengths will be more even this year. With fewer start-up costs, a greater percentage of the show’s large budget will wind up on the screen.
Filming on the second season wrapped just four days before the industrywide COVID-19 shutdown in March. That lead to a labor-intensive postproduction process with Ludwig Goransson’s orchestral score being one of the trickiest things to record. The full EW piece can be read here.
The first season scored higher on Rotten Tomatoes than any live-action “Star Wars” title since the original trilogy. The show also earned fifteen Emmy nominations in July, including a nod for Outstanding Drama Series.
“The Mandalorian” returns via the Disney+ service from October 30th.