Lucasfilm is still shooting the 12-episode run of of their Rogue One: A Star Wars Story prequel series, Andor, focusing on the Rebellion spy played by Diego Luna.
There is now news that a familiar face from Rogue One is indeed returning.
Actor Stellan Skarsgard has revealed in a new interview with Swedish radio station Sverige Radio (spotted by The Playlist) that Rogue One’s Forest Whitaker will reprise the role of Saw Gerrera in the Andor series and the two will share some screen time together. If you’re confused, Andor takes places years before the events of Rogue One allowing the character to return for the series.
Whitaker also reprises the Gerrera role in the video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
Joining Luna and Skarsgard in the Star Wars show will be Adria Arjona (Morbius), Denise Gough, Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma, Robert Emms (Chernobyl), Fiona Shaw, and Kyle Soller.
Toby Haynes (Sherlock, Doctor Who, Utopia, Black Mirror) will be directing with a writing team that includes Tony Gilroy (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler), Beau Willimon (House of Cards), and Stephen Schiff (The Americans).
Andor’s 12-episode run will debut on Disney+ sometime in 2022.
Despite being announced alongside Rogue One: A Star Wars Story co-star Diego Luna for the prequel Disney+ series Andor, a new quote from K-2S0 actor Alan Tudyk suggests he might not be as involved with the series as previously thought or originally promoted by Lucasfilm.
Alan was speaking with Collider and revealed that while Andor is filming at the moment he hasn’t shoot any scenes giving the impression he might not be showing up in future seasons. The actor revealing he’s not in Season 1, but that seems odd for a multitude of reasons.
TUDYK: “They’re shooting it right now, I’m not in it. But, if it stays on the air, stories keep getting told, I’ll end up in there.”
“I’m going to be in the show. It’s just that the story that Tony [Gilroy] is telling doesn’t involve K-2SO until later on… I can’t be too specific, but I can definitely say that I’m not going to be in the first season.”
It’s a little perplexing since Alan was on stage with Luna for the series announcement giving us the impression his role was likely minimized during the show’s rewrites. The show takes place five years before the events of Rogue One and maybe they wanted to explore Cassian Andor’s origins before pairing him with the surly droid.
Alan’s name was missing in a recent press release announcing new cast members on the official website, a possible first clue that he wasn’t going to be showing up after a potential retooling.
Star Diego Luna will be joined by Genevieve O’Reilly, who will reprise her role as Mon Mothma (Rogue One, Tin Can), as well as newly-announced co-stars Stellan Skarsgard (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Good Will Hunting), Denise Gough (Collett, Angels in America) and Kyle Soller (Anna Karenina, The Titan).
Tony Gilroy, who co-wrote Rogue One, will write, direct and serve as showrunner for the series, which takes place five years before the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Additional writers on the series include Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler), Beau Willimon (House of Cards), and Stephen Schiff (The Americans).
Filming is underway and is expected to drop sometime in 2022 on Disney+.
With the second season of The Mandalorian winding-down, we won’t likely have any new live-action Star Wars until possibly next fall. So, I figured I would give a rundown of what other live-action projects are in the works from Disney+ shows to feature films in various stages of development.
BOBA FETT SERIES: Deadline reported last month that a secret Boba Fett project for Disney+ had begun shooting without mentioning who exactly was starring, writing or directing the thing. We can only assume with Temuera Morrison now firmly in the role for The Mandalorian that this might be the incarnation that this new project tackles.
I have my own speculation that this might actually end up being Season 3 of The Mandalorian given the lack of information on who is working on it and the proximity of when Jon Favreau wanted to start shooting Season 3. While Lucasfilm can be sneaky, this would be the first time they’ve started filming a Star Wars project without us knowing who was at least writing and directing it.
At one time, Josh Trank and Simon Kinberg were developing a Boba Fett movie but the project ultimate didn’t come together after hiccups between the two making Fox’s Fantastic Four reboot. There had even been rumors that James Mangold was in talks to resurrect the series but quickly shot that down along with his involvement with Season 2 of The Mandlorian.
CASSIAN ANDOR PREQUEL SERIES: Diego Luna recently confirmed to Jimmy Kimmel that his Rogue One prequel series focusing on Cassian Andor and K-2SO has already started shooting in London with director Toby Haynes (Black Mirror). Haynes stepped in for Tony Gilroy, who may still end up directing an episode.
The cast for the Star Wars series includes Luna, Alan Tudyk, Adria Arjona, Denise Gough, Genevieve O’Reilly, Stellan Skarsgard, and Kyle Soller. Andor will skew more in the spy genre and might continue the tone established in Rogue One.
DEBORAH CHOW’SKENOBI SERIES: Ewan McGregor is officially reprising the Obi-Wan Kenobi role but as we all know uses the name Ben Kenobi while hiding out on Tatooine and overseeing the protection of Darth Vader’s son Luke Skywalker from the Empire. Lucasfilm revealed via a franchise timeline that Kenobi will take place around the time of the Corellia scenes in Solo: A Star Wars Story. The series will be directed by Deborah Chow (The Mandalorian) and there are assumptions that Joel Edgerton will return to the role of Uncle Owen along with a new actor playing a young Luke Skywalker. It’s unconfirmed if we’ll be seeing flashbacks to the Clone Wars or if Kenobi will ever go off-world at any point.
Casting announcements should be incoming shortly.
Filming according to Ewan McGregor is expected to take place this March. The locations are said to be Pinewood Studios UK and Boston, England as the Pinewood facility will have their own Volume/StageCraft which has been used frequently on The Mandalorian.
THE MANDALORIAN: A third season of The Mandalorian is expected to begin shooting at some point after there was word from showrunner and producer Jon Favreau they hoped to get filming started before the end of 2020. We had heard that Jon is expected to direct at least one episode in Season 3.
It’s also possible we could see spinoff series focusing on Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan and Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano. Those have yet to be announced despite the fan assumptions.
LESLYE HEADLAND’SMYSTERY STAR WARS SERIES: Leslye Headland (Russian Doll) is officially working on a new female-centric Star Wars series that according to Deadline would include martial arts elements and take place at a different point in the Star Wars timeline.
Adding to the confusion is the fact that Disney+ is developing a female-centered Star Wars series, written and showrun by Leslye Headland, believed to be a female-driven action thriller with martial arts elements and set in an alternate timeline from the usual Star Wars universe. The rumored spinoff is said to be separate from this Star Wars project but the situation is fluid.
There has been plenty of speculation of what the show could be or who it could focus on but no details have been confirmed by Lucasfilm or Disney.
I’m sure we’ll learn more about the series soon.
RIAN JOHNSON’S BRAND-NEW STAR WARS TRILOGY: Star Wars: The Last Jedi writer/director Rian Johnson has been developing his own original trilogy for the studio but looks to be more focused on his Knives Out sequel at the moment. There haven’t been much in the way of details concerning Johnson’s project but is expected to take place in another era of Star Wars with new characters. Also, there had been some talk that while Rian would oversee all three films he likely wouldn’t end up directing all them.
Here is how the official press release described the trilogy.
Lucasfilm is excited to announce that Johnson will create a brand-new Star Wars trilogy, the first of which he is also set to write and direct, with longtime collaborator Ram Bergman onboard to produce…In shepherding this new trilogy, which is separate from the episodic Skywalker saga, Johnson will introduce new characters from a corner of the galaxy that Star Wars lore has never before explored.
Johnson has also dismissed multiple claims he’s exited.
TAIKA WAITITI’S STAR WARS MOVIE: After dismissing reports of his involvement, Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi was officially announced for an upcoming theatrical Star Wars film with Krysty Wilson-Cairns (1917, Last Night in Soho) co-writing the script. This news wasn’t terribly shocking after Kathleen Kennedy suggested wanting to work with him. Taika later getting his feet wet working on Season 1 of The Mandalorian as both director and voicing the bounty hunter droid IG-11.
The Kiwi director is going to be a little busy as he’ll start shooting Marvel’s Thor: Love & Thunder soon in Sydney, Australia.
JEDI ORIGIN TRILOGY: According to Variety back in October 2019, the Game of Thrones showrunners, D.B Weiss and David Benioff, had been developing a trilogy of films that would have explored the origins of the Jedi.
Benioff and Weiss had ambitious plans to take the “Star Wars” universe in a new direction, one that would exist apart from the Skywalker family saga that comprised the franchise’s centerpiece nine-film series. The Star Wars period the pair was interested in exploring was how the Jedi came to exist. However, Lucasfilm executives and the creators begin to see their visions for the films diverge during meetings last summer.
This would have likely taken place way before eras like the Skywalker Saga, The High Republic or even The Old Republic.
However, the pair left Lucasfilm for a rather pricey deal with Netflix which seemingly squashed the project for the foreseeable future. There are new rumblings online that this project might get resurrected but it’s unofficial for the moment.
THE OLD REPUBLIC TRILOGY:BuzzFeed had once reported that Laeta Kalogridis (Avatar, Ghost In The Shell, Altered Carbon, Shutter Island) was developing a Knights of The Old Republic film that could eventually become it’s own trilogy.
A movie based on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic — the beloved video game first released in 2003 — is currently being written by Laeta Kalogridis (Avatar, Shutter Island) for Lucasfilm, three sources close to the project told BuzzFeed News.
Kalogridis is close to finishing the first script of a potential KOTOR trilogy, according to the three sources.
While this was never confirmed, Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy teased they’ve had internal discussions about projects in that era during a chat with MTV back in April 2019.
MTV: Knights of The Old Republic, a lot of fans wanna see that, is there any development of that?
KENNEDY: “You know, we talk about that all the time. Yes, we are developing something to look at. Right now, I have no idea where things might fall..”
There is also a film project that would see Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige get involved as a producer but there next zero official information about what and when that would be. I have to assume it’s either something already mentioned like Taika’s film or something that hasn’t been made public.
I’m sure with Disney keen to get more originals for Disney+ that we’ll likely hear about more live-action Star Wars shows in the near future.
It looks like another Star Wars series has begun production!
Rogue One actor Diego Luna mentioned on Jimmy Kimmel Live that filming on his untitled Cassian Andor prequel series has started in London (we have to assume he’s referring to Pinewood Studios UK). We’ll keep our fingers crossed he’ll finally have his wished granted and be able to touch Jabba.
Back in September, it was announced that Black Mirror’s Toby Haynes would be taking over as director as Tony Gilroy couldn’t do it. However, there is a chance Tony will be able to direct episodes later on. The cast for the Star Wars series includes Luna, Alan Tudyk, Adria Arjona, Denise Gough, Genevieve O’Reilly, Stellan Skarsgard, and Kyle Soller. Andor will skew more in the spy genre and might continue the tone established in Rogue One.
Since this series takes place before the ending of Star Wars: Rebels there is a good chance they could include the live-action incarnation of a character like Grand Admiral Thrawn that recently got a nod by Ahsoka Tano in The Mandalorian and we might eventually see the Imperial villain show up on Disney+ at some point. A series like Andor would be a perfect excuse to use him.
When the show is expected to drop on Disney+ remains a bit of mystery since they’re said to be currently shooting a Boba Fett project and Season 3 of The Mandalorian is going to be starting up soon. Ewan McGregor also said back in October that Kenobi would begin production sometime in March with Deborah Chow set to direct that series.
There are plenty of rumors concerning future Star Wars shows in development at Lucasfiilm with teases that Bo-Katan and Ahsoka Tano could land their own shows. Lucasfilm also announced an official one is coming from Russian Doll co-creator Leslye Headland that is reportedly going to be female-centric with martial arts elements.
The Ronin has learned that Marvel Studios has added Will Htay as the production designer of Peyton Reed’s upcoming Ant-Man 3 and could speak to the scale of the film.
Will’s impressive credits on massive blockbusters as a concept designer includes films such as Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, No Time To Die, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Solo: A Star Wars Story. His work on Star Wars isn’t relegated to just feature films as has been part of the production design team on Disney+ series Kenobi and the untitled Cassian Andor show.
Reed is no stranger to Star Wars either as he directed Chapter 10 of The Mandalorian.
Returning cast members include Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Emma Fuhrmann
Lovecraft Country’s Jonathan Majors is reportedly playing the villain Kang The Conqueror in the sequel which suggests the scale of the Marvel Comics sequel.
We’ve been hearing for months that filming on Ant-Man 3 will be taking place mainly on the stages of Pinewood Studios UK in Buckinghamshire, England and they’ll have access to The Volume/StageCraft for their shoot. The facility was used for upcoming Marvel films Black Widow and Eternals, the latter finishing up their reshoots.
Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness is currently shooting at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England with Elizabeth Olsen suggesting she’ll join them next month.
Ant-Man 3 is without an official release date but is coming out sometime in 2022.
Netflix has finally announced via The Hollywood Reporter that Narcos: Mexico has been renewed for Season 3, however, has lost their star Diego Luna to the Star Wars series on Disney+ that focuses on his Rogue One character Cassian Andor.
Scoot McNairy will be returning though.
Tuesday’s announcement confirms that McNairy is indeed among the returning cast; however Luna, who will be starring in the Star Wars prequel series for Disney+, is not. Other returning cast members include José Maria Yazpik, Alberto Ammann, Alfonso Dosal, Mayra Hermosillo, Matt Letscher, Manuel Masalva, Alejandro Edda and Gorka Lasaosa.
The third season will continue along the Narcos: Mexico timeline, according to the Netflix synopsis, and will open up in the ’90s, when the globalization of the drug business ignites. The new episodes will examine the war that breaks out after Felix’s empire splinters. As newly independent cartels struggle to survive political upheaval and escalating violence, a new generation of Mexican kingpins emerge. But in this war, truth is the first casualty — and every arrest, murder and take-down only pushes real victory further away.
It sounds like they’ll be pivoting towards focusing on El Chapo.
With Gallardo’s organized plaza system now dismantled, the season two finale gave rise to the Sinaloa, Tijuana and Juarez cartels that plan to step up — and war for power — in Gallardo’s place, including the character of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán (Edda). In wrapping up Gallardo’s story, that conclusion had left an up-in-the-air return for the DEA agent who hunted him, Walt Breslin, who is played by McNairy.
They also add that Carlo Bernard will be taking over as showrunner from Eric Newman, who is currently busy with other projects.
Wagner Moura, who played Pablo Escobar in the series, will be returning to direct two episodes.
Yet another production hiccup on a Star Wars project.
Deadline reports that Tony Gilroy has stepped down as director on the upcoming Cassian Andor series with Black Mirror’s Toby Haynes said to replace him, who will direct the first three episodes.
They are using COVID-19 travel restrictions as the reason for Tony deciding against directing the episodes as he is in New York City. Haynes is said to have been wanted to direct future episodes so it was seemingly an organic choice to hire him. Gilroy is said to be still involved creatively as executive producer and showrunner.
UPDATE:The Playlist adds that Tony hopes to still direct some episodes if the COVID-19 travel restrictions allow him towards the end of the shoot.
Sources close to the project told us a few months back that Gilroy was still hoping to direct episodes, maybe the finale and a few episodes toward the end, but all of that is contingent on safety and how well the COVID situation is in the U.K. and the U.S. Given that the U.K. is going through a second-wave of COVID and implementing new precautions as we speak, it would not surprise me if those plans do not come to fruition as hoped, but we shall see.
Toby is likely best known for directing the Black Mirror episode U.S.S. Callister, which was expected to get a spinoff series of it’s own.
The Disney+ series is a prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story as it will follow the exploits of Rebellion spy Cassian Andor played by Diego Luna with Alan Tudyk reprising the role of quippy droid K2S0.
Cassian Andor’s cast also includes Adria Arjona, Denise Gough, Genevieve O’Reilly, Stellan Skarsgard, and Kyle Soller.
This hiccup would suggest that filming would indeed take place at Pinewood Studios UK as with other Star Wars productions.
The series has yet to be given an official title by Lucasfilm/Disney.
Could we finally see Lucasfilm tackle a cinematic version of The Old Republic era?
While speaking with The Wrap, Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy recently talked about the future of Star Wars suggesting an interest of exploring other eras in the universe as they’re currently stepping back to figure what they want to do as they focus more on the Disney+ shows for the next couple of years.
Specifically mentioning the mythology of Star Wars spanning over 25,000 years, an obvious reference to The Old Republic.
KENNEDY: “And now we’re stepping back. Stories have been told within this universe over the last 40-odd years, and there’s now the realization that this is a mythology that actually spans about 25,000 years, when you really start to look at all the different stories that have been told, whether it’s in books and games.”
“We just need the time to step back and really absorb what George has created, and then start to think about where things might go. That’s what we’ve been doing, and we’ve been having a great deal of fun doing it, and meeting with lots of different filmmakers and talent. There’s so many fans out there and so many filmmakers that have been influenced by Star Wars for so long that it’s a fantastic opportunity to get a sense of who wants to be a part of this. So that’s what we’ve been doing.”
This isn’t the first time Kennedy has teased an interest in going backwards with Star Wars mythology, when asked by MTV News about development on something in The Old Republic, Kennedy confirmed development but stopped short on giving any details about when that could happen.
KENNEDY: “You know, we talk about that all the time. Yes, we are developing something to look at.”
You can see that exchange from last year’s Star Wars Celebration below.
#Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy talked to us about the future of #StarWars – including a Knights of the Old Republic movie and female filmmakers taking the helm, as well as Palpatine’s surprise return in the trailer for @StarWars#EpisodeIXpic.twitter.com/HCjEhdlRv7
Last year, BuzzFeed reported that the Altered Carbon series creator Laeta Kalogridis was writing a Star War film that was set within The Old Republic and could potentially become a trilogy.
There was also some interesting news this week as it was announced via Deadline that Netflix has cancelled Altered Carbon after two seasons allowing Kalogridis to move on to other things, like this potential Old Republic trilogy for Lucasfilm/Disney.
Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love & Thunder director Taika Waititi is officially helming a Star Wars movie for the studio, but details about his project are scarce. He’ll be co-writing with Oscar nominated screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns (Last Night In Soho, 1917).
We still don’t know where in the timeline that film will be taking place.
The scope of The Old Republic would allow Lucasfilm and filmmakers to create a brand new path for the Star Wars film franchise since they could jump into certain points in the past and not being beholden to the original trilogy along with forced to connect to it because there is so much time between the eras.
I guess we’ll have to wait to get some solid details from Lucasfilm what they are planning on doing.
Deadline has word that up-and-coming actress Adria Arjona has been tapped for an undisclosed role in the untitled Cassian Andor series from Lucasfilm set within the Star Wars universe. Andor, a character from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a Rebellion spy and operates mostly in a very grey-area. The series is expected to play-up the spy aspect of the Rebels and Andor played by Diego Luna.
Arjona’s recent credits include Triple Frontier, Narcos, True Detective, Pacific Rim: Uprising, 6 Underground, and will be seeing alongside Jared Leto in Sony’s Spider-Man spinoff Morbius. She’ll be joining Luna, Alan Tudyk, Denise Gough, Genevieve O’Reilly, Stellan Skarsgard, and Kyle Soller.
Filming had been originally expected to begin this summer before the pandemic delayed multiple film and television productions.
THE RONIN 