‘The Mandalorian’ will premiere next month when Disney rolls out its Disney+ streaming service. This marks the first live-action ‘Star Wars’ TV series, so a lot of eyes will be watching to see if the popular movie brand can work on the small screen (outside of animation). One potential scene-stealer is the droid mercenary IG-11 whose voice will be supplied by director Taika Waititi, who previously voiced the rock creature Korg in ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ and ‘Avengers: Endgame’.
But some are wondering why the show’s creators chose to introduce IG-11, who bears such a strong resemblance to existing droid bounty hunter IG-88, who debuted alongside Boba Fett in ‘Empire Strikes Back’. Dave Filoni, who acts as executive producer, after having worked on the animated ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ and ‘Star Wars: Rebels’, explained in an interview with IGN:
IG-88 by Sideshow Collectibles
“For me, working on Star Wars so long, I tend to like to lean towards the creation of new characters. I love and respect the old characters and the classic characters – and sometimes I think maybe I’m a bit too reverent with things – but I like areas that are undefined now. Like my experience creating Ahsoka [Tano for ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’] in a space that was fairly well defined between two films, and yet we were able to land and add a valuable piece to that story in the prequels that didn’t take away from any of Anakin or Obi-Wan’s arc.”
Ahsoka certainly did prove to be a fan favorite. And what ‘The Mandalorian’ may benefit from is that it doesn’t directly connect to any of the movies. It exists in the same universe but looks to be its own self-contained story.
After the stories of Jango and Boba Fett, another warrior emerges in the Star Wars universe. The Mandalorian is set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order. We follow the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic.
There are eight episodes of the first season, but a second season has already been ordered. Julia Jones will join the cast for Season 2, as Omera, as will Ming-Na Wen, though her role is unrevealed.
‘The Mandalorian’ will be available the day that Disney+ launches on November 12.
Jax's earliest memory is of watching 'Batman,' followed shortly by a memory of playing Batman & Robin with a friend, which entailed running outside in just their underwear and towels as capes. When adults told them they couldn't run around outside in their underwear, both boys promptly whipped theirs off and ran around in just capes.
