Tag: Disney+

Posted on in Film News

George Lucas Wanted ‘Star Was’ Sequel Trilogy To Include Leia As Supreme Chancellor of The New Republic and Luke Reviving The Jedi With Survivors of Order 66

An excerpt from a new interview from George Lucas has been making the rounds online (via Reddit) that comes from a new book titled The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005 has the franchise creator talking-up ideas he had for the sequel trilogy that ultimately weren’t used by Lucasfilm/Disney. Lucas first mentioned that Disney wasn’t interested in his ideas during his infamous interview where he called them “white slavers”.

He alludes that he wanted Luke Skywalker to restart the Jedi with what seems to be 50-100 Jedi that survived the events of Order 66 from Revenge of The Sith, it sounds like a much larger amount than we would have expected.

LUCAS: “It starts out a few years after Return of The Jedi and we establish pretty quickly that there’s this underworld, there are offshoot stormtroopers who started their own planets, and that Luke is trying to restart the Jedi. He puts the word out, so out of 100,000 Jedi, maybe 50 or 100 are left. The Jedi have to grow again from scratch, so Luke has to find two and three-year-olds, and train them. It’ll be 20 years before you have a new generation of Jedi”

“By the end of the trilogy Luke would have rebuilt much of the Jedi, and we would have the renewal of the New Republic, with Leia, Senator Organa, becoming the Supreme Chancellor in charge of everything. So she ended up being the Chosen One.”

I’m slightly curious if this germ of an idea is why Disney wanted to explore a Jedi characters like Cal Kestis in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Kanan Jarrus in Rebels both survivors of Order 66. I’m also curious if they try to reuse it in the Disney+ shows.

Ultimately, the version of Luke Skywalker we saw wasn’t this version as Lucas alludes wanting to have a new Jedi Order established, which never happened in the films we got.

Leia’s final journey was more than likely hindered because of her sudden death while Colin Trevorrow was still working on Duel of The Fates and they had to make creative choices to work around that tragedy.

SOURCE: THE STAR WARS ARCHIVES 1999-2005

Posted on in Film News

EXCLUSIVE: Emilio Estevez To Direct An Episode of ‘The Mighty Ducks’ Series For Disney+

The Ronin has been able to confirm that The Mighty Ducks franchise actor Emilio Estevez will be taking the role of director on the upcoming Disney+ series currently filming in Vancouver. The actor is reprising the role of Gordon Bombay as well.

Estevez might be best known for directing the comedy Men At Work that co-starred his brother Charlie Sheen but has tackled TV with CSI: NY and Cold Case.

Disney+ is looking to bring multiple nostalgia projects from 80-90s to the streaming platform including a soft-reboot film of Honey, I Shrunk The Kids titled Shrunk with director Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park 3, Captain America: The First Avenger) returning and Turner & Hooch reboot series.

This new incarnation of The Mighty Ducks will star Lauren Graham (Bad Santa, Gilmore Girls) and Brady Noon (Good Boys).

The series is set in present-day Minnesota, where the Mighty Ducks have evolved from scrappy underdogs to an ultra-competitive, powerhouse youth hockey team. After 12-year-old Evan (Noon) is unceremoniously cut from the Ducks, he and his mom, Alex (Graham), set out to build their own ragtag team of misfits to challenge the cutthroat, win-at-all-costs culture of competitive youth sports.

The Mighty Ducks is expected to drop on Disney+ sometime in 2021.

Posted on in Television News

Leslye Headland’s Female-Centric ‘Star Wars’ Series Reportedly An Action Thriller Featuring Martial Arts Elements and Set In An Alternate Timeline

Yesterday, Deadline broke a rumor that filming on an unannounced Boba Fett series could begin as early as this week.

They also added some new details concerning the untitled female-centric series coming from Russian Doll’s Leslye Headland. Stating that it will be an action thriller that will have martial arts elements taking place in “an alternate 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.

While we’ve seen Jedi and gunslingers, we really haven’t seen a martial arts type project before. Star Wars: The Force Awakens featured The Raid 1-2 and John Wick: Chapter 3 actors Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian, and Cecep Arif Rahman as the group Kanjiklub. All three known for martial arts films. It’ll be interesting if they’ll be pursuing those kinds of actors for this new “action” series.

Martial arts star Donnie Yen’s also had a supporting role as Chirrut Imwe in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

It remains to be seen where this timeline will land. I know fans like myself would enjoy a setting in The Old Republic and could be one of the better untapped sectors of the Star Wars Universe.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

Unannounced ‘Boba Fett’ Miniseries For Disney+ Rumored To Begin Shooting This Week

Deadline is claiming that a Boba Fett miniseries is set to begin shooting this week before Season 3 of The Mandalorian.

A project that has yet to be confirmed officially by Lucasfilm or Disney.

I hear possibly a Boba Fett miniseries, would film first, starting next week, with The Mandalorian Season 3 following after a monthlong break.

We previously got confirmation that actor Temurea Morrison would be taking the Boba Fett role in Season 2 of The Mandalorian, as his New Zealand agency confirmed the part in an official CV document.

Information on this Boba Fett series is limited given that Lucasfilm hasn’t even announced it officially or who is working on it. We also don’t know if it will be following Morrison or a younger incarnation of the character before the events of the original trilogy. Daniel Logan played a younger version of Boba in the prequels and could be the right age for a series.

Josh Trank and Simon Kinberg had been developing a Boba Fett movie for Lucasfilm before the project dissolved after the hiccups at 20th Century Fox making Fantastic Four. Lucasfilm attempted a second incarnation of the Fett movie but development there stalled again leading to the studio to pivot to The Mandalorian series instead along with the other spinoff films like Solo: A Star Wars Story.

This path would seemingly echo how Ewan McGregor’s Kenobi film turned into a limited series for Disney+ with The Mandalorian’s Deborah Chow set to direct that show after film development didn’t stick.

Boba Fett is established as a clone of Jango Fett (played by Temurea Morrison) and first appeared in the Star Wars Holiday Special in the animated sequence, then appeared in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of The Jedi (also in Special Edition of A New Hope years after it’s original release). A younger live-action incarnation of Boba Fett (played by Daniel Logan) was last seen in Star Wars: Attack of The Clones.

Who exactly is directing or writing this Boba Fett project is unknown.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

Actress Sophie Thatcher Reportedly Joining ‘The Mandalorian’ Universe

Deadline is reporting a rumor that American actress Sophie Thatcher (Prospect) is joining The Mandalorian universe in Season 3, a spinoff series or both. It’s unclear at the moment what the project is, however, they suggest that rumor of a spinoff featuring Cara Dune and Bo-Katan is untrue for the moment.

A recent online report pointed to a potential offshoot featuring Cara Dune, played by Gina Carano, and the Star Wars Rebels character Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff, who has been rumored to appear The Mandalorian‘s second season.) Such a project does not appear to be real, at least for now.

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.

It remains to be seen what this spinoff series could be if it’s something else than what has been reported previously. They’re also not disclosing information concerning Thatcher’s Star Wars role.

Sophie previously worked with The Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal in the sci-fi thriller Prospect.

Showrunner and director Jon Favreau has stated that they’re hopeful to roll cameras before the end of the year. Deadline is also pointing to a start in 2021.

Earlier this morning we posted about Season 3’s working title seemingly being confirmed as Buccaneer via Production Weekly (originally coming from The DisInsider last month), a potential sign we could be seeing more pirates, smugglers, thieves, and criminal syndicates in the new season. Also, our own speculation that beloved alien pirate, Hondo Ohnaka, could show up given he’s still alive in this era of Star Wars and Filoni adding his characters from the animated series in Season 2.

Depending on how the shoot goes, Season 3 might be ready to air on Disney+ by the end of 2021.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3 Working Title Is ‘Buccaneer’ – Jon Favreau Expected To Direct Again

It was posted by Production Weekly that the working title of Season 3 of Lucasfilm’s The Mandalorian will be Buccaneer.

The title is a pirate term which could suggest that a beloved Clone Wars/Rebels character like Hondo Ohnaka might be showing up in Season 3, but that is more speculation given how other animation characters are said to have live-action counterparts appearing in Season 2.

However, it is worth noting that Hondo happens to be a character at Galaxy’s Edge (means he is alive in The Mandalorian era and beyond) and there is an obvious reason to link a theme park character to the popular series.

It could also be a nod to the criminal group Dharus Buccaneers.

There are plenty of pirate gangs and criminal syndicates in Star Wars but we really haven’t seen them in full display as The Mandalorian (so far) has been mostly exploring the world of bounty hunters and Imperial forces with limited interaction with the criminal side of the galaxy.

Back in August, The Ronin reported that Jon Favreau is returning as writer, producer, showrunner, and director. He’s expected to direct at least one episode in Season 3 as he recently directed the Season 2 premiere. We also confirmed that Emmy-winning production designer Andrew Jones would be returning.

There is also an assumption that Dave Filoni will be back as a director too.

Favreau has suggested to Variety that filming could begin before the end of the year.

Executive producer and showrunner Jon Favreau told Variety that The Mandalorian is “on schedule” to start production on Season 3 of the series “before the end of the year” — after Pascal wraps shooting in Europe on the feature film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent with Nicolas Cage.

Despite fan rumblings of actor Pedro Pascal being replaced as Din Djarin aka Mando that doesn’t seem to be happening given how credible sources haven’t supported that chatter and Pascal has been heavily promoting the series (even on his own time).

The working title was first brought-up by Skyler from The DisInsider back in October via Twitter and is now seemingly confirmed by Production Weekly’s update.

The Mandalorian and the Child continue their journey, facing enemies and rallying allies as they make their way through a dangerous galaxy in the tumultuous era after the collapse of the Galactic Empire. “The Mandalorian” stars Pedro Pascal, Gina Carano, Carl Weathers and Giancarlo Esposito. Directors for the new season include Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rick Famuyiwa, Carl Weathers, Peyton Reed and Robert Rodriguez. Showrunner Jon Favreau serves as executive producer along with Dave Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy and Colin Wilson, with Karen Gilchrist serving as co-executive producer.

SOURCE: PRODUCTION WEEKLY

Posted on in Television News

‘John Wick’s John Leguizamo Plays Gangster Gor Koresh In ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 2 Premiere – Plus Episode 1 Concept Art

Warning spoilers ahead for Episode 1 of the new season of The Mandalorian.

Character actor John Leguizamo (John Wick) reunites with Chef director Jon Favreau on the Season 2 premiere episode of The Mandalorian titled The Marshall. John plays the seedy gangster Gor Koresh in the opening sequence who wants Mando’s armor because of the value of it.

Also, in the episode we got confirmation that Timothy Olyphant plays Cobb Vanth, a Tatooine marshal (a nod to Justified?) that happened to acquire Boba Fett’s armor from jawas. It’s super interesting to see a live-action version of a Star Wars Legends character in the series, hopefully, we see more in the future.

Temuera Morrison showed up briefly at the end to show his face.

Here is a batch of concept art from the first episode as well.

Posted on in Television News

Marvel Studios’ Animated Series ‘What If…?’ Adds ‘Lovecraft Country’ Composer Laura Karpman

In a new profile from Variety, it’s been revealed that Lovecraft Country composer Laura Karpman has joined Marvel Studios’ upcoming animation series What If…?, which will be airing exclusively on Disney+.

Westworld and The Batman actor Jeffrey Wright will be voicing the cosmic being known as Uatu The Watcher in the series who will give viewers a glimpse into multiple possibilities that feature variations on the heroes and villains we know from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Marvel Studios and Disney has already moved forward with a Season 2 order as confirmed by Kevin Feige, both seasons will each consist of 10-episodes.

While air dates seem to be all over the place at the moment, What If…? might not begin airing Season 1 until 2021 and the official Marvel website still points towards a debut in the summer. However, unlike live-action projects the production of animation can be done remotely during the pandemic and could mean they’re further along than expected.

The animated series is part of a large wave of Marvel Studios originals developed for Disney+ which includes WandaVision, The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, Loki, She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and an unannounced Nick Fury series.

SOURCE: VARIETY

Posted on in Television News

Netflix Renews ‘Narcos: Mexico’ For Season 3 But Loses Star Diego Luna To ‘Cassian Andor’ Series

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.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Television News

Egyptian Filmmaker Mohamed Diab To Direct Marvel’s ‘Moon Knight’ Series For Disney+

Deadline is reporting that director Mohamed Diab (Clash) has been selected by Marvel Studios to direct their Moon Knight series which has Oscar Isaac in talks to play Marc Spector.

Moon Knight, aka Marc Spector, a mercenary who has numerous alter egos — cabbie Jake Lockley and millionaire playboy Steven Grant — in order to better fight the criminal underworld. But later he was established as being a conduit for the Egyptian moon god Khonshu. Most recently, the character was a consultant who dresses in all-white and goes by the name Mr. Knight. 

Yesterday, it was revealed that Star Wars and Dune actor Oscar Isaac was in talks with Disney/Marvel to land the role which might suggest that they are taking more of a film star approach with the character. Something slightly different from the other recent Disney+ castings.

Filming is expected to spend a good chunk of time in the United Kingdom but when is a little bit of a question as Isaac is attached to star in an HBO limited series titled Scenes From A Marriage with Jessica Chastain. Marvel Studios also has plenty of new stuff on their plate with the television as She-Hulk, Hawkeye, and Ms. Marvel are expected to begin shooting in Atlanta soon.

We should expect a bunch of casting news coming in the coming weeks and months.