Kathleen Kennedy And Jon Favreau Announce 'The Mandalorian' Will Be Available When Disney+ Launches, And Other 'Star Wars' Offerings

Kathleen Kennedy and Jon Favreau appeared at the Disney+ press conference to discuss the upcoming streaming service’s ‘Star Wars’ offerings.  While some of it was already known, they offered a bit more information.

For starters, Favreau’s ‘The Mandalorian’ has completed filming and the filmmaker is busy in post-production.  He stressed that while there will be a lot of CGI, that he felt at its core, ‘Star Wars’ was famous for its practical effects, including puppetry, matte paintings and more.  So fans should expect to see similar techniques present on ‘The Mandalorian’.

Perhaps most excitingly, ‘The Mandalorian’ will be available when Disney+ launches.

Kennedy confirmed the ‘Cassian Andor’ series that was previously believed to be in the works but was unconfirmed.  Not only will Diego Luna star, but he will serve as a producer.  Kennedy also announced that Alan Tudyk will return as the voice of K-2SO.  Kennedy described it as a “spy series” set within the ‘Star Wars’ Universe.

There was also the brief discussion of the already announced continuation of ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’.

Interestingly, there will also be some nonscripted shows, including one that will spotlight the talent behind the creation of the movies.

Of course, ‘Star Wars’ began as a film franchise and fans can rest assured that all of the ‘Star Wars’ movies, including the yet-to-be-released ‘Episode IX’ will be available to stream on Disney+ within a year of its launch.  Disney+ will launch in November.  ‘Episode IX’ opens in theaters in December and will be released on home video a few months after that.  Though theatrical movies may not be made available to stream on the exact same date as they are released on Blu-Ray, judging by the way they are (or were) made available on Netflix, there isn’t too much of a wait.  That means that within a year, fans will have complete access to the entire ‘Star Wars’ movie saga, plus the spin-offs.

Disney+ will be $6.99 a month or $69 for a year.  It launches on November 12, 2019.  It was stated that Disney is considering a bundle plan to combine Disney+ with Hulu and ESPN+, but that looks to still be in the planning stages.  But since Disney now owns 60% of Hulu, it makes sense to make this offer for current subscribers.