Tag: Jon Favreau

'The Mandalorian & Grogu': Sigourney Weaver In Talks For Secretive Part In Jon Favreau's 'Star Wars' Movie
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‘The Mandalorian & Grogu’: Sigourney Weaver In Talks For Secretive Part In Jon Favreau’s ‘Star Wars’ Movie

Writer/director Jon Favreau is gearing up to shoot the very first live-action “Star Wars” movie to be released in theaters since “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” back in 2019. His feature film spinoff of the Disney+ series, “The Mandalorian & Grogu,” is assembling a cast that could feature veteran actress Sigourney Weaver in a mysterious role as The Hollywood Reporter is backing up claims she’s in the mix for the project.

Weaver isn’t unfamiliar with sci-fi or franchise roles, having played Lt. Ellen Ripley in the “Alien” franchise (her “Aliens” co-star Michael Biehn already appeared in the TV series incarnation of “The Mandalorian” in that Ahsoka episode) in four feature films (a fifth installment from Neill Blomkamp was scrapped by Ridley Scott/20th Century Fox), is a key figure from the “Ghostbusters” movies, featured as a villain in the Netflix/Marvel Television series “The Defenders,” and is currently part of James Cameron’s “Avatar” franchise including those other three sequels.

You might remember that “The Mandalorian” originally started out in the first season as an original bounty hunter tale focusing on Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin. But quickly pivoted toward becoming a full-blown fan-service cameo factory for Dave Filoni’s animated characters from “Clone Wars” and “Rebels” to make their live-action debuts. This led to Bo-Katan and Ahsoka becoming key figures in the television realm, eventually removing the bounty hunter element altogether from “The Mandalorian” in the process.

Returning cast members from the series are sort of dwindling after the passing of Carl Weathers (“Predator”), the sexual misconduct allegations levied against comedian Horatio Sanz that likely pulled him from the “Star Wars” franchise entirely, and the very public firing of Gina Carano by Disney for some bizarre antisemitic posts connected to her own defense of posts understood to be transphobic in nature.

Meanwhile, we’ll keep our fingers crossed that Paul Sun-Hyung Lee is able to reprise his role as Captain Carson Teva in the film. There is an expectation that folks such as Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan and Giancarlo Esposito’s Moff Gideon will be back though.

Disney’s Bob Iger had previously announced that “The Mandlaorian & Grogu” would be heading into theaters on May 22, 2026.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

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‘Star Wars’: Jon Favreau’s ‘The Mandalorian & Grogu’ Movie Confirmed For California Shoot As Production Nabs $21.8M In Tax Credits

As soon as Lucasfilm and Disney announced that Jon Favreau (“Iron Man”) would be directing the next big “Star Wars” feature film with “The Mandalorian & Grogu,” it was expected that production would pretty much stick to the same stages and crew working on the Disney+ shows in and around the Manhattan Beach/Los Angeles area in California. Now, that has been cemented with new tax breaks as The Hollywood Reporter revealed the Disney production has landed $21.8 million.

What’s interesting about all this is that star Pedro Pascal is about to begin shooting on Marvel‘s big “Fantastic Four” reboot at Pinewood Studios in England over the summer. This would likely mean his part as Din Djarin will continue to be voice-over related with Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder expected to do the in-suit acting for Mando. Unless he shoots scenes with his helmet off during reshoots ahead of the film’s May 22, 2026 release date, that was inferred by Disney CEO Bob Iger.

Pedro Pascal: The Mandalorian Season 3 Was 'Mostly a Voice Over Gig' - Comic Book Movies and Superhero Movie News - SuperHeroHype

“The Mandalorian” is still getting a fourth season but it’s unclear when that will shoot given the upcoming film shoot.

Directors Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, James Mangold, Dave Filoni, Taika Waititi, and Shawn Levy also have their own feature films in the works. The former will continue the story beyond “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” with the return of Daisy Ridley as Rey Skywalker and the expectation of her training a new generation of young Jedi. There’s been an assumption that Obaid-Chinoy’s movie will debut on December 18, 2026.

Favreau isn’t a stranger to helping build a cinematic universe as his two “Iron Man” movies helped establish the MCU and became important lead-ups to “The Avengers” in 2012. Along with Lucasfilm’s new CCO Filoni, Favreau has been fleshing out their own corner of the “Star Wars” universe and is expected to contribute creatively to most things moving forward.

The next big “Star Wars” project to be released is said to be “The Aloclyte” this summer on Disney+ and takes place during the end of The High Republic era.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

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Disney Dates Two ‘Star Wars’ Movies For 2026 With Bob Iger Hinting Jon Favreau’s ‘The Mandalorian & Grogu’ Up First In May 2026

There have been some rather big updates concerning the “Star Wars” universe with small screen confirmations that “The Mandalorian” is still getting a fourth season despite a feature film on the way and Dave Filoni (Lucasfilm’s new Chief Creative Officer) is already working on getting “Ahsoka” season two in the bag before pivoting to his own “Star Wars” movie set during that television timeline allowing him to play with both original saga and his own animation characters. We now have an idea of when to expect the next TWO movies thanks to Disney.

During an earnings call yesterday, Disney’s Bob Iger confirmed that Jon Favreau‘s “The Mandalorian & Grogu,” a continuation of the Disney+ series, would be the first new “Star Wars” movie to be released in 2026. That comes after Disney updated their main release slate (via Fandango’s Erik Davis) to include two 2026 spots for “Star Wars” films including May 22, 2026, and December 18, 2026.

Seemingly, Iger was giving us the impression that the “Mando” movie is most likely heading toward that May spot and the new Rey Skywalker installment “Star Wars: New Jedi Order” (Given how far along development is) could be heading toward that December release with director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (“Ms. Marvel”) attached alongside Daisy Ridley‘s return to the franchise. Considering the previous films in the Rey Skywalker saga took December spots, it’s not all that surprising to us that would end up landing the holiday spot.

There have been hints that both of the films could be ready to shoot as early as this summer/fall but we’ll have to wait for some casting news to know for sure when they’re gearing up for production.

SOURCE: DISNEY/BOB IGER

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‘The Mandalorian & Grogu’: Lucasfilm Announces That Jon Favreau To Direct New ‘Star Wars’ Film That Begins Shooting This Year

We’ve been waiting for ages to get some real concrete details about some of the upcoming “Star Wars” movies in various stages at Lucasfilm and there has been a bit of reveal. Today, the studio has announced a new film from Jon Favreau is set to head into production in 2024 and given the new “Star Wars” film the title of “The Mandalorian & Grogu” which clearly establishes his spinoff of the popular Disney+ series will indeed feature the former bounty hunter and the foundling with Jedi abilities.

American actor Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us“) plays the titular Mandolarian, Din Djarin, the surrogate father of Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) as the two have turned into a family as they go on various adventures across the galaxy which sees them become integral parts of the Mandalorian community. The setting takes place years after the events of “Star Wars: The Return of The Jedi” and we’ve seen two appearances from Luke Skywalker, and there are expectations we could see other original trilogy characters appear in the spinoff movie but how exactly they’ll be present to theatrical audiences isn’t known.

We also assume that likely means that this new movie will replace the fourth season of “The Mandalorian” and means the crew of the show is likely working on the feature as well.

The official “Star Wars” website also includes a piece of concept artwork, and that you can see below.

Pascal had been reportedly in talks to play Dr. Reed Richards in Marvel’s “Fantastic Four” reboot from director Matt Shakman and is expected to go into production before “The Mandalorian & Grogu.” One of the more interesting aspects of the streaming series is that Pascal mostly does voiceover work as Din Djarin with a stunt actor performing a bulk of the in-costume and fight scenes, the character rarely taking off his helmet makes all this possible.

Ahsoka Release Date Confirmed For August On Disney+

Filoni and Favreau are said to be officially in development for a second season of “Ahsoka” too continuing the story of the characters from “Star Wars: Rebels” and the former Jedi from “Star Wars: Clone Wars.” However, given the film is the now main priority for the writer/director it’s unknown when we’ll see “Ahsoka” season two begin shooting. It was previously announced that Filoni would be making his own film as well taking place in the era of the Disney+ series and seemingly could focus on Grand Admiral Thrawn’s return, ala, “Heir To The Empire.” Although, we’re unclear how much of that will impact the second season of “Ahsoka” or if the two will be related at all.

Of course, Favreau isn’t a stranger to cinematic universes after directing “Iron Man,” and “Iron Man 2” for Marvel Studios helping to usher in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to a global audience with a batch of lesser-known Marvel characters. He’s been since working on a fleet of streaming series for Lucasfilm with the aforementioned “Ahsoka,” “The Mandalorian,” “The Book of Boba Fett” miniseries, and the upcoming Jon Watts project “Skeleton Key.”

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (“Ms. Marvel”) is also set to direct Daisy Ridley‘s return as Rey Skywalker in a new film that will see her start a new Jedi school and had been expected to begin shooting this year as well but we’re still waiting on casting news on that front. Other “Star Wars” pics in the works include a Jedi origin film from James Mangold (“Logan”) set ages before the Jedi Order/The Old Republic alongside mystery films from Taika Waititi, and Shawn Levy.

SOURCE: LUCASFILM

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‘The Book Of Boba Fett’ Begins Airing December 29 On Disney+ & Tackles The Criminal Underworld

It’s been made official that The Book of Boba Fett will begin airing December 29 on Disney+ and the first solid synopsis for the Star Wars series has been released. Confirming that Boba Fett will indeed be focused on the criminal underworld, as teased with the Jabba’s Palace sequence in season two of The Mandalorian.

Fett will continue into 2022 with other Star Wars shows set to debut next year such as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and the third season of The Mandalorian.

Here is the official press release from Lucasfilm.

Disney+ announced today that The Book of Boba Fett — the new Lucasfilm series teased in a surprise end-credit sequence following the Season 2 finale of The Mandalorian — will premiere on Wednesday, December 29, exclusively on the streaming service. Disney+ also debuted the key art for the series, which you can see for yourself below.

The Book of Boba Fett, a thrilling Star Wars adventure, finds legendary bounty hunter Boba Fett and mercenary Fennec Shand navigating the galaxy’s underworld when they return to the sands of Tatooine to stake their claim on the territory once ruled by Jabba the Hutt and his crime syndicate.

The Book of Boba Fett stars Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen. Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Robert Rodriguez, Kathleen Kennedy, and Colin Wilson are the executive producers. Karen Gilchrist and Carrie Beck serve as co-executive producers, with John Bartnicki producing and John Hampian as co-producer.

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‘The Mandalorian’: Carl Weathers Confirms He’ll Direct Again For Season 3 & Returns As Greef Karga

The Mandalorian is the next live-action Star Wars project to go in front of cameras and actor/director Carl Weathers has revealed that he’ll not only reprise his role as Greef Karga for Season 3, but he’s also back as one of the directors too.

Weathers made the announcement at Steel City Con (via Fandom Spotlite).

“And so now, we’re gonna start a new season of The Mandalorian, within the next month. Yeah. And I get to be in front of camera again, and I get to direct again.”

This makes Weathers the first official confirmed director for Season 3 outside of the assumed usual suspects like Dave Filoni, Jon Favreau, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Rick Famuyiwa. We’ll have to wait and see if Robert Rodriguez will be involved after tackling episodes in Season 2 and The Book of Boba Fett, he’s been busy prepping a new action film starring Ben Affleck.

Pedro Pascal (Mando) and Katee Sackhoff (Bo-Katan) are expected to return as well. Pascal’s return to the set is a little unclear as he’s currently busy shooting HBO’s The Last of Us in Calgary.

However, due to the recent sexual assault allegations against actor Horatio Sanz it’s doubtful he’ll be returning.

Lucasfilm fired Gina Carano over various disturbing social media posts making it unlikely we’ll see Cara Dune in Season 3 either, unless they decided to recast the role new a new actress.

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.

It’s assumed we won’t be seeing the next season of The Mandalorian debut until late 2022.

You can watch the full video of Carl Weathers at Steel City Con below.

SOURCE: FANDOM SPOTLITE

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‘The Mandalorian’: Cinematographer David Klein Confirmed For Season 3

With The Book of Boba Fett wrapped months back, it looks like The Mandalorian is on deck in California. We have some small production tidbits to share.

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.

The Ronin has been able to confirm that cinematographer David Klein is back for Season 3 after working on Season 2 and multiple episodes of The Book of Boba Fett. It’s unclear how many episodes he’ll be working on this time around.

Production designers Doug Chiang and Andrew Jones are back as well, they recently worked on The Book of Boba Fett and should help keep the look of the universe cohesive between the two shows.

There is an assumption that director Bryce Dallas Howard might be back as well, but we can’t confirm this. She recently joined the lineup of directors on The Book of Boba Fett and returning for Season 3 isn’t that huge of a leap to make.

Pedro Pascal is said to be busy shooting HBO’s The Last of Us in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and it’s unclear when he’ll be on the set of The Mandalorian.

Returning cast members have yet to be announced but Carl Weathers and Katee Sackhoff are expected to be named.

We suspect that Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka series won’t being shooting until the fall at the earliest.

The Book of Boba Fett will be the next big live-action Star Wars project to debut on Disney+ in December and Star Wars: Visions begins airing on September 22. Next year is expected to see things like Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Season 3 of The Mandalorian start airing.

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‘Ahsoka’: Lucasfilm Reportedly Seeking Actress To Play Sabine Wren In ‘Star Wars’ Series

Last year, we saw a bit of a fake-out with previous rumors stating that Star Wars: Rebels character Sabine Wren would be appearing in Season 2 of The Mandalorian, only for that character seen in trailers to be someone else completely. But, we did see live-action versions of Ahsoka Tano and Bo-Katan giving fans the idea that surviving members of Star Wars: Rebels would be making the jump to live-action for Disney+ shows.

In December, it was announced by Lucasfilm that Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka would be getting her own solo series on Disney+ with an unannounced release date.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Aaron Couch is now stating from sources that the studio is looking to cast an actress to play Sabine Wren for the Ahsoka series.

For now, What If …? is focusing on characters who have already appeared in live-action. But animation history has noteworthy examples of popular characters who appeared in animation first before making it big in live-action. Harley Quinn debuted in the 1990s Batman animated series decades before debuting in Suicide Squad, while Ahsoka Tano, the fan-favorite Jedi, appeared in animation in 2008 before Rosario Dawson made the jump to live action in The Mandalorian season two. Now, Dawson is leading a live-action Ahsoka spinoff for Disney+, with sources saying Lucasfilm is looking for an actress to star opposite Dawson as Mandalorian warrior Sabine Wren.

This could line-up with other character rumors for the show and might explain why Sabine didn’t show up in The Mandalorian, as she was being saved for Ahsoka Tano’s solo series.

The Ronin is hearing that it’s possible that Ahsoka might end up shooting in the United Kingdom rather than California, but we’ll have to wait for further confirmation of that before saying that is a “sure thing.” It’s worth nothing that both The Mandalorian Season 3 and Obi-Wan Kenobi are currently using the Californian facilities over the summer.

Lucasfilm is notoriously hush-hush when it comes to casting on The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. They might be just as secretive with Ahsoka. Then again, with Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi they were willing to share names on the call-sheet.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

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‘The Book Of Boba Fett’: Cinematographer David Klein Confirmed For Multiple Episodes

Lucasfilm’s next big Star Wars release on the small screen will be The Book of Boba Fett, a direct spinoff from The Mandalorian as we’ll see further adventures of Fett (played by Temuera Morrison) and his newly acquired partner Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen).

We already know that the show has wrapped but details of who worked on the secretive project has been trickling out recently, including some crew and director confirmations.

The Ronin has been able to confirm that Deadwood: The Movie and The Mandalorian (Season 2) cinematographer David Klein (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Mallrats) indeed returned to shoot multiple episodes of Boba Fett, however, the number hasn’t been fully revealed. Klein shot Robert Rodriguez’s Season 2 episode where we see Fett get his armor back and take out a bunch of Storm Troopers.

Previously, it was revealed by American Cinematographer that legendary director of photography Dean Cundey would also be shooting episodes as well. His fantastic list of credits includes Halloween, The Fog, Escape From New York, The Thing, Big Trouble In Little China, Jurassic Park, Back To The Future 1-3, and Death Becomes Her.

Fett’s directing team is expected to include Robert Rodriguez (Alita: Battle Angel, Desperado, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Sin City) alongside other Mando alumni such as Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Extraction director Sam Hargrave.

Lucasfilm confirmed last year that The Book of Boba Fett would be ready to begin airing on Disney+ sometime in December. Other Star Wars shows currently in production include Diego Luna’s Andor, Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Season 3 of The Mandalorian is said to be underway as well.

It’ll be interesting to see how Fett will lead into Season 3 of The Mandalorian and if we’ll indeed see multiple characters cross-pollinate between the two Star Wars projects.

Some rumors would suggest that Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka series could be the next series to go into production alongside Lucasfilm’s next big Star Wars movie Rogue Squadron from filmmaker Patty Jenkins.

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EXCLUSIVE: ‘The Book Of Boba Fett’ Directing Team Expected To Include ‘Extraction’s Sam Hargrave

The next big live-action Star Wars project from Lucasfilm will be The Book of Boba Fett series starring Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett and Ming-Na Wen as Fennec Shand. Executive producers Robert Rodriguez, Dave Filoni, and Jon Favreau are confirmed as directing episodes alongside Bryce Dallas Howard and we have another name to add to the list.

The Ronin is hearing that The Mandalorian Season 2 second unit director Sam Hargrave has been given at least one episode to direct on The Book of Boba Fett and could be still doing second unit stuff throughout the series as well.

Hargrave recently directed Chris Hemsworth in the action-packed Netflix film Extraction that was produced by The Russo Brothers. His other stunt coordinator/second unit work includes Atomic Blonde, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Captain America: Civil War, Deadpool 2, and The Accountant.

The Book of Boba Fett has already wrapped and will debut on Disney+ sometime in December according to Lucasfilm. We should expect a trailer to drop sometime between now and the fall.

As teased in a surprise end-credit sequence following the season finale of The Mandalorian, the legendary bounty hunter’s journey will continue in The Book of Boba Fett. Jon Favreau, executive producer of The Mandalorian, confirmed today on Good Morning America that the new series is currently in production and will arrive December 2021, only on Disney+.

The Book of Boba Fett will be set within the timeline of The Mandalorian and star Temuera Morrison as the titular bounty hunter, along with Ming-Na Wen as Fennec Shand. Robert Rodriguez — who directed Chapter 14 of The Mandalorian, a thrilling installment that reintroduced Boba Fett to the Star Wars galaxy — joins Favreau and Dave Filoni as executive producer.

Cinematographer Dean Cundey has been revealed to be working behind the camera. His fantastic collection of credits consists of Escape of New York, The Fog, Halloween, The Thing, Big Trouble In Little China, Jurassic Park, Back To The Future Trilogy, Apollo 13, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

We previously confirmed that Emmy-winning production designer Andrew Jones (The Mandalorian Season 1-3) worked on The Book of Boba Fett as well.

The studio is pushing forward with a wave of live-action projects as Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and The Mandalorian Season 3 are said to be in various points of production with things such as The Acolyte, Lando, Ahsoka, and Rangers of The New Republic also in development stages at Lucasfilm.

EXTRACTION – A black-market mercenary who has nothing to lose is hired to rescue the kidnapped son of an imprisoned international crime lord. But in the murky underworld of weapons dealers and drug traffickers, an already deadly mission approaches the impossible.