'The Mandalorian' preview: this could be the most badass Star Wars ever
The trailer may not have dropped, but those lucky fans who saw footage from The Mandalorian can attest that this already looks like the adult live-action Star Wars TV series of your dreams.
The footage, locked down by Disney and shown only to attendees of The Mandalorian panel at Star Wars Celebration in Chicago, opened with Pedro Pascal as the title character in Boba Fett-style armor -- known only as the Mandalorian -- walking into a Cantina. But for the dilating door, the scene was shot in classic western gunslinger style.
The setting: the galaxy far, far away 5 years after Return of the Jedi. The premise: As the Empire slowly collapses and the New Republic fights to establish itself, lawlessness pervades. Bounty hunters are in more demand than ever.
Pascal is seen talking to Carl Weathers, who plays the boss of a bounty hunter gang. The Mandalorian receives a commission that sends him to Werner Herzog, who plays a scenery-chewing Imperial leader. Surrounded by battered old Stormtroopers, Herzog is looking to reestablish the old fascistic order. He gives Pascal an off-the-books commission.
On his way to Herzog, the Mandalorian passes a gritty street scene in the best Star-Wars-as-Sergio-Leone-Western tradition. We see a Kowakian monkey-lizard -- remember Salacious Crumb, Jabba's pal from Return of the Jedi? -- roasting on a spit, while another in a cage looks on in terror.
Further footage amps up the must-watch factor. Gina Carano, a pioneering MMA fighter, plays a bounty hunter who takes down Pascal in a street fight. We see Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad's Gus Fring) leading a squad of stormtroopers with flame throwers.
In short, everything you might have wanted to see on screen in a Boba Fett movie, or any other Star Wars content about the scum-of-hive-and-villainy side of the galaxy, is here. And it has swagger.
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CGI characters are integrated seamlessly. IG-88, a bounty hunter droid seen briefly in The Empire Strikes Back, is here voiced by Taika Waititi -- and is seen spinning and firing two weapons in a manner that George Lucas could only have dreamed about.
Despite such CGI moments, writer and producer Jon Favreau spent the panel talking about the importance of practical effects.
Attendees were shown a video -- again, off the livestream -- of the Mandalorian's ship, named The Razor Crest, being hand-milled by Lucasfilm's maker gurus in a metalwork shop at Industrial Light and Magic.
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Why Disney is currently being so cagey with the trailer, we have no idea -- because this is the best ad yet seen for its upcoming Disney+ streaming service.
The Mandalorian premieres on Disney+ on November 12, 2019.
Topics Star Wars
Chris is a veteran tech, entertainment and culture journalist, author of 'How Star Wars Conquered the Universe,' and co-host of the Doctor Who podcast 'Pull to Open.' Hailing from the U.K., Chris got his start as a sub editor on national newspapers. He moved to the U.S. in 1996, and became senior news writer for Time.com a year later. In 2000, he was named San Francisco bureau chief for Time magazine. He has served as senior editor for Business 2.0, and West Coast editor for Fortune Small Business and Fast Company. Chris is a graduate of Merton College, Oxford and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He is also a long-time volunteer at 826 Valencia, the nationwide after-school program co-founded by author Dave Eggers. His book on the history of Star Wars is an international bestseller and has been translated into 11 languages.
