After some hiccups from the fan community guessing when the new trailer for the second season of The Mandalorian would drop, Disney decided today was the day.
This is the way.
The new footage even looks a bit more slick than the last season and reveals that Din Djarin’s mission will be to return The Child aka Baby Yoda to the Jedi.
Wrestler Sasha Banks can also been seen in the trailer sporting some robes, but what her role is can’t be determined here. There had been rumors she had taken to part of Star Wars Rebels character Sabine, a fellow Mandalorian.
They’ve also confirmed the full directors list includes Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rick Famuyiwa, Carl Weathers, Peyton Reed, and Robert Rodriguez.
Season 3 is well into pre-production and as The Ronin has reported will see the return of production designer Andrew Jones with Jon Favreau expected to return to direct at least one episode.
The new series will begin airing on Disney+ starting on October 30th.
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.
Back in March, there was a rumor making the rounds that Captain America: The Winter Soldier villain Batroc The Leaper would be returning for The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, it’s now confirmed.
Just Jared posted new set photos from Atlanta, Georgia feature Emily VanCamp and George St-Pierre. They also include the first look at the mysterious character being played by Desmond Chiam.
Batroc was hired secretly by Nick Fury in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and was in S.H.I.E.L.D./HYDRA custody. It’ll be interesting to see if Thunderbolt Ross is involved with him in a Thunderbolts situation or if he is back to his mercenary ways.
Filming had been delayed due to COVID-19 and is only just resuming now, I previously heard that it likely won’t be ready for a 2020 on Disney+ and given the extra that it will take to complete with Coronavirus precautions it seems like that is likely the case.
Earlier in the year, Obi-Wan Kenobi actor Ewan McGregor said on the red carpet of Birds of Prey that the Star Wars series unofficially referred to as Kenobi would begin shooting in January of 2021.
Ewan recently spoke with Entertainment Tonight to promote Apple TV+’s Long Way Up, where he revealed that production on Kenobi has been pushed to the spring and is indeed being planned as a single standalone season.
MCGREGOR: “Spring next year we start, I’m really excited about it. It’s gonna be great, I think. As I understand, it’s a standalone season. We’ll see. Who knows?”
While speaking with ACE Universe back in June he confirmed that they would be implementing the StageCraft technology used on The Mandalorian.
MCGREGOR: “[The prequels] were all blue screen and green screen and it was hard to imagine, but nowadays I think things have moved on so much, and I think a lot of what you see is gonna be what we see on the set. I don’t know if you’ve seen the behind-the-scenes of The Mandalorian series, but they employ that incredible screen…it’s pretty amazing. It makes you feel like you’re in the place, it’s going to feel realer for us, as actors. And I think we’ll be using some of that technology on our show.”
Screenwriter Joby Harold (King Arthur: Legend of The Sword, Army of The Dead) had been recently hired to do rewrites for the Star Wars series after there were reported delays due to script issues.
It’s still set to be directed by Deborah Chow (The Mandalorian).
While the Cassian Andor series has been hiring multiple actors for their cast, the Kenobi series has yet to have any names announced. The Mandalorian beings airing on Disney+ starting on October 30th and its third season is already in the pre-production stages.
Yesterday, some really bad Star Wars rumors were making the rounds from the most unreliable source, YouTube streamer Grace Randolph. She was suggesting that because a trailer for The Mandalorian Season 2 didn’t magically appear during the NBA playoffs that there were extensive Season 2 reshoots ahead and most likely delays.
Stating that Disney was unhappy with the upcoming season.
However, it looks like she was again exposed as a huckster peddling in false information as Disney officially announced today on the show’s Twitter account that episodes will begin airing on October 30th on Disney+. This news should comfort those that were silly enough to fall for those attention seeking lies.
They also includes a new logo for the second season.
Lucasfilm is hard at work on Season 3 prep with writing scripts and pre-production stages as the pandemic has shuffled the schedule a little. The Ronin revealed last week that Jon Favreau is expected to direct at least one episode and that Emmy-nominated production designer Andrew L. Jones is confirmed to be returning.
Once the promotion for Mulan’s Premier Access on Disney+ is over there is a strong expectation that Disney will release a trailer and marketing wave for The Mandalorian.
The Ronin has learned The Mandalorian Season 3 is already gathering up crew members and can confirm we will see the return of production designer Andrew L. Jones, who worked on the previous two seasons of the hit live-action Star Wars series airing on Disney+.
Jones recently earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Program (Half-Hour) for his work on the first season of The Mandalorian.
Jon Favreau is already confirmed to be writing and producing the next season as well.
We are hearing Jon is expected to direct at least one episode in the third season, but haven’t been able to confirm that aspect.
Season 2 is still set to begin airing on Disney+ sometime in October according to Disney and an official trailer is likely around the corner.
Production on Season 3 seems to have been delayed due to the pandemic but there is plenty of prep going on.
The Ronin has caught-wind of some interesting developments concerning the releases of the first two Disney+ shows from Marvel Studios and the potential production order of the ones that haven’t started to begin shooting.
First, it seems like WandaVision may indeed be finished enough to debut before the end of the year. We know that the series is still planning to do some pick-up shots or reshoots but it doesn’t seem like it will be enough to hinder a 2020 release.
However, The Falcon & The Winter Soldier is expected to have been pushed back to 2021.
Disney has yet to make solid announcements recently about when either show will be released other than reaffirming that Season 2 of The Mandalorian will be ready to go in October.
One big reason for the delay might not even be related to The Falcon‘s production pause, as it’s been months since Disney+ content has been shot due to the pandemic and that will leave a content gap next year for many streaming services. This could see places being a little more reserved and Disney dropping two Marvel shows alongside The Mandalorian might be a little too much at once.
Loki was always set to be released in 2021, so that doesn’t seem to have changed in any major way.
Also, while this could change due to COVID-19 and location scheduling, below seems to be the current production order of the new shows that haven’t started shooting.
Hawkeye
Ms. Marvel
Moon Knight
She-Hulk
This does make sense since Hawkeye and Ms. Marvel are further along in the casting process. Then again, multiple Marvel shows were in production in Atlanta at the same time, so the start dates might not be as staggered as they are with the feature films.
She-Hulk might be done with their scripts but it’s possible that Mark Ruffalo’s schedule is a factor, if he has indeed signed-on as expected.
On the film side, release dates are influx as there is a very good shot that Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings might not make it’s May 7th, 2021 release because of the production delays in Australia shortening the post-production window.
It’s unknown if Black Widow will stick to it’s November 6th theatrical release date or will be bumped to Eternals‘ February 12th, 2021 spot instead. There has been plenty of fan speculation it’ll simply be dumped on Disney+’s Premier Access section like Mulan, but little evidence to support it.
It is a little upsetting that without San Diego Comic-Con Marvel hasn’t made any big announcements. Hopefully, they’ll give some updates in the very near future taking cues from the upcoming event DC FanDome and doing their own in-house version of it.
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.
Ever since the release of Solo: A Star Wars Story, there has been chatter about Donald Glover’s return as the charming Lando Calrissian in a future Star Wars project. It eventually led to a handful of rumors online suggesting that Donald Glover could be getting a Lando series on Disney+.
Now, that Lando returning rumor is back with Noah Outlaw revealing on the Kessel Run Transmissions podcast that Glover is expected to lead his own Disney+ series reprising the beloved Star Wars character.
You can watch below with a snippet posted by Noah on Twitter.
We can finally announce that Donald Glover will be reprising his role as Lando in a future #StarWars series! What do you guys think of this news?? pic.twitter.com/TyQGjM0kdn
The Kessel Run guys previously stated that Lucasfilm would be making a spinoff animated series focusing on the clone trooper unit The Bad Batch from The Clone Wars, which turned out to be accurate and was confirmed by Disney/Lucasfilm not too long ago in an official press release.
This new tidbit is certainly far from official as Lucasfilm hasn’t made any announcements about Glover or Lando making a return but it’s worth considering for the time being.
If this Lando series comes together it would be interesting to see what characters from Solo: A Star Wars Story would end up returning and if the criminal syndicate Crimson Dawn would have a presence.
While Marvel Studios has been having a tough time resuming productions or even starting it with others, they’ve finally found directors for the upcoming solo Hawkeye series starring Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton.
The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Troop Zero directors Amber Finlayson and Katie Ellwood along with Comrade Detective‘s Rhys Thomas have been tapped to work on the Disney+ series that will introduce Barton’s protege Kate Bishop, a member of the Young Avengers.
It’s still unknown who will ultimately take the Bishop role after Hailee Steinfeld had been linked previously but had a conflict with her Apple TV+ series Dickinson.
When they’ll begin filming is a little uncertain as they had been planning on a shoot in Atlanta, Georgia and because of the pandemic they’ve had to pause other shows shooting in the area, which could lead to delays for Hawkeye‘s start. Georgia’s governor doesn’t seem to be taking the situation as seriously as he should be and this could lead to the state having trouble resuming it’s film and television sector in 2020.
The hiring of these three directors for Hawkeye would suggest that it will be the next series to filming while She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, and Moon Knight have yet to officially land their own directors.
As most suspected, The Falcon & The Winter Soldier won’t begin airing next month due to delays in finishing their production. Although there is word that WandaVision might be delayed until spring 2021 despite chatter of a December release.
Here are some interesting Marvel tidbits that have surfaced recently.
‘WandaVision’ Expected To Have At Least 9-Episodes
A stunt person’s public resume spotted by Murphy’s Multiverse seemingly reveals that there might be at least 9-episodes of WandaVision airing on Disney+.
When WandaVision will be ready to begin airing on the streaming service hasn’t been made official. Vision actor Paul Bettany recently revealed that they still have some reshoots before they’re completely finished when that will happen is a little less unclear.
Anthony Mackie Says Marvel Studios Needs More Diversity
While speaking with Variety, MCU star Anthony Mackie took Marvel Studios to task about the diversity behind the camera.
MACKIE: “It really bothered me that I’ve done seven Marvel movies where every producer, every director, every stunt person, every costume designer, every PA, every single person has been white.”
While Marvel Studios has a few non-white producers such as Nate Moore (Eternals, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther), Trinh Tran (Hawkeye, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Captain America: Civil War), and Malcolm Spellman (The Falcon & The Winter Soldier) Marvel and the producing team could certainly be doing a lot better in all areas of hiring and expanding their diversity behind the scenes, not just in front of the camera.
Mackie also stated to Variety that the upcoming series The Falcon & The Winter Soldier is like a six-hour film.
MACKIE: “We’re shooting it exactly like a movie. Everybody who had worked on TV before was like, ‘I’ve never worked on a TV show like this.’ The way in which we were shooting, it feels exactly like we were shooting the movie cut up into the show. So instead of a two-hour movie, a six or eight-hour movie.”
When the Marvel series will begin airing is also up-in-the-air as they didn’t finish shooting and the latest restrictions from the European Union banning American travelers would suggest that they won’t be able to complete those Prague scenes anytime soon.
The United States is also still stuck in the first wave of the coronavirus making it extremely dangerous for studios to ramp-up productions in Atlanta leaving shows like Falcon and Loki in production limbo for the moment.
Ernie Hudson Confirms He Attempted To Play King T’Chaka In The MCU
Ghostbusters and The Crow star Ernie Hudson confirmed to Comic Book that he asked Marvel producers about playing T’Challa’s father and former Black Panther, King T’Chaka. However, he asserts that Marvel thought the role was too small for him.
The original rumor that Hudson was in the mix came from Latino Review back in 2014.
Hulu’s ‘Helstrom’ Series Doesn’t Seem To Have The Marvel Studios Branding
An official logo for Helstrom posted by Hulu when announcing their lineup for Comic-Con@ Home seemingly omitted the Marvel branding from the project, which is based on characters from Marvel Comics and was produced by Marvel Television before Jeph Loeb stepped down. The company has been renamed to Marvel TV Studios and is overseen by Marvel’s new CCO, Kevin Feige.
In Marvel’s Helstrom, Daimon and Ana Helstrom are the son and daughter of a mysterious and powerful serial killer. The siblings have a complicated dynamic as they track down the terrorizing worst of humanity — each with their attitude and skills.
This could support the idea that Helstrom is neither part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (unlike the Disney+ shows) and most likely won’t be getting a second season.
I had been mostly exclusively reporting on the various directors working on the series at HN Entertainment, so I’m curious to see what the Vancouver-shot show looks like.
There have been some signs that the 10-episodes will begin airing sometime near Halloween in October/November.
THE RONIN 