}); The Road to Episode Infinity: The Mandalorian is a Gift to be Cherished

Friday, November 15, 2019

The Mandalorian is a Gift to be Cherished


How did we get here?

"The Mandalorian" is a Star Wars TV show with a 15-million-dollar per episode budget. It has some of the most powerful names in the business behind it, including Jon Favreau as the show-runner.

"The Manalorian" is not just good Sci-Fi, it's good Star Wars, which is something not-so-easy to pull off.

But again, How did we get here?


When Disney purchased Lucasfilm they had a plan to produce one Star Wars movie per year, indefinitely. It was a strategy that was working for the Marvel Universe and Disney was pretty sure it could be replicated. But the task was not as easy as it seemed. Visionary writers and directors were brought on board and given the keys to the kingdom. Yet most of them did not last long.



In 2014 it was announced that director Josh Trank was hired to develop spin-off film (a Boba Fett film it turns out). Yet, only a year later he was pulled from the project. 

In 2017, directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were filming the movie "Solo" when they suddenly ousted and replaced by Ron Howard. As a consequence the movie went way over budget. As a consequence Disney put a hold on all "Star Wars Story" films including an "Obi-Wan Kenobi" film that Stephen Daldry was attached to.

Later that year Colin Trevorrow was removed from the development of Star Wars: Episode IX (and was replaced with JJ Abrams).

Most recently David Benioff and D. B. Weiss (the Game of Thrones guys) were removed (or perhaps walked away from) a future film series. That series was supposed to premiere in 2022, but now it seems, Star Wars films might be put on a longer hiatus.

Currently we have reports that Rian Johnson will launch a new trilogy and that Kevin Feige will develop a Star Wars film as well. But at this point the "One Star Wars Movie Per Year" idea has been scrapped and Disney is using a different tactic: Television.





TV is having a moment right now. In the middle of the current Streaming War culture, studios want to pump out content. CBS is trying to do this with Star Trek. They are pouring resources into developing and launching as much Trek content as possible and hope that it will bring people to their platform. Star Wars should feel very fortunate that Disney has jumped into the 'Streaming Wars' and has placed Star Wars at the very center of the platform.

Now that old Josh Trank Boba Fett movie has become "The Mandalorian". The Stephen Daldry Kenobi movie was reimagined as a small screen Ewan McGregor mini-series. A Cassian Andor series is also in development along with "The Mandalorian Season 2".


And who knows. Maybe the "failed" Solo franchise that every seemed to like (once they finally got around to watching it), will also continue somehow via Disney +

Star Wars fans are lucky. They are so lucky and most of them don't know it.

While many of them bemoan how the new Disney Star Wars is not as good as the originals or even the prequels, they fail to see what has been given to them: 5 quality movies (fans can argue over quality but critics and non-fans pretty much agree that this is good stuff). And now Disney is pumping out Star Wars television at budgets of 15 million per episode.

This is a beautiful time to be a Star Wars fan. November and December 2019 will see 8 "Mandalorian" episodes on TV and "The Rise of Skywalker" in the cinemas.

So enjoy the ride!

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