Tag: Star Wars

Posted on in Television News

Jango Fett’s Origin Explained In ‘The Mandalorian’

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR CHAPTER 14 OF THE MANDALORIAN

The latest episode of The Mandalorian released back on Friday brought back Boba Fett with prequels actor Temuera Morrison playing the role and finally getting to wear the armor as well. Morrison previously playing Jango Fett and the Clone Troopers in the prequel films.

In Chapter 14, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni seemingly restored Jango Fett and Boba Fett (by proxy) status as Mandalorians after there had been hints from the animation side that they were frauds that happened to obtain the armor. This leading fans to proclaim that neither Fetts were “real Mandalorians”. This apparently has been patched-up with some dialog in the new episode with Boba Fett revealing that his father Jango Fett was a foundling just like Din Djarin and fought in the Mandalorian Civil Wars.

DIN DJARIN: “You’re father was a foundling?

BOBA FETT: “Yes, he even fought in the Mandalorian Civil Wars.

DIN DJARIN: “Then that armor belongs to you.”

The episode also attempts some image repair on the Boba Fett character making him an effective soldier rather than the joke he was in Star Wars: The Return of Jedi and even seems a bit heroic, this likely has a lot to do with his own series.

Does this mean that both Boba Fett and Bo-Katan will become regulars on the show given that The Mandalorian title could now end up referring to all three of these characters? That remains to be seen as Deadline reported last month that a secret Boba Fett series began shooting without word who was director or even writing.

I’m slightly curious if we’ll end up seeing Bo-Katan or even Boba eventually take over the series if Mando happened to get killed-off possibly in a duel with Moff Gideon as he wields the Darksaber.

When I first exclusively reported at HN Entertainment that The Mandalorian would get a Season 2 (the first Star Wars series to get multiple seasons) I suggested that Lucasfilm could use an anthology model allowing them to pivot to different Mandalorian characters in various seasons. Given that we have zero information about this Boba Fett series and Jon Favreau hoped to begin shooting before the end of 2020, I wouldn’t be shocked if the Fett project might actually be Season 3 of The Mandalorian (only my speculation).

Posted on in Film News

‘Metal Gear Solid’: Oscar Isaac Lands His Dream Role Playing Solid Snake As Video Game Film Finally Moves Forward At Sony

A while ago during an interview with IGN to promote the Netflix film Triple Frontier, Star Wars actor Oscar Isaac revealed he’d like to play Snake in a Metal Gear Solid movie, a project that was in active development at Sony Pictures with director Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Kong: Skull Island) attached. Jordan seemed extremely hot on the idea of Oscar in the role on social media and it looks like we have an update on that casting.

Deadline now reports that Oscar is set for the lead role of Solid Snake, the main character in the original Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots. Raiden was the main playable character of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty with Big Boss featured as the main character prequel games Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

Sony’s long awaited Metal Gear Solid adaptation looks to have gained some major momentum as sources tell Deadline that Oscar Isaac is attached to play Solid Snake in the Jordan Vogt-Roberts film.

METAL GEAR SOLID (1998) – A crack government anti-terrorist squad takes over an obscure Alaskan nuclear disposal facility. Solid Snake is up for the task to infiltrate the facility, rescue the two hostages and thwart the terrorists’ plans.

Derek Connolly (Kong: Island, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdon, Jurassic World: Dominion. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) wrote the most current version of the script.

Isaac is currently filming Scenes From A Marriage and is expected to begin shooting Marvel’s Moon Knight series in March, when Metal Gear Solid will begin production is unknown at this time given Oscar’s busy schedule.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

‘Star Wars’: Diego Luna Says The ‘Cassian Andor’ Series Has Begun Filming In London!

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.

SOURCE: JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE

Posted on in Television News

‘The Mandalorian’: Rosario Dawson Would Love The Opportunity To Reprise Ahsoka Tano

Last week’s episode of The Mandalorian finally brought Ahsoka Tano into the realm of live-action with Rosario Dawson playing this incarnation of the former Jedi. We learned that she is on the trail of Star Wars: Rebels villain Grand Admiral Thrawn and would suggest that she still has a path in future episodes or unofficially in her own spinoff series.

Dawson stat down with the official Star Wars website for an interview where she revealed she would love to return to the character.

DAWSON: “I mean, I would love that opportunity. I think it’s so cool that this show exists. I think it’s so cool that I got to show up and give information about this character, the Child, that everyone’s loved so much. You know, that she was not so much showing up as a cameo, but really being a storytelling device for new fans that have fallen in love with yet another new character that we’re getting to see grow. Little Grogu is just amazing.”

“It’s interesting watching The Mandalorian, realizing you’re not seeing lightsabers, you’re not seeing a lot of what we love about Star Wars. It was really amazing to be able to have that gift of being able to bring that into this series and into this space, and I’m really grateful for that opportunity.”

While it’s easy to see Lucasfilm/Disney moving forward with Ahsoka’s own show it’s also possible that things could be planted for future seasons of The Mandalorian, such as Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan trying to retrieve the Darksaber from Moff Gideon. It’s unknown if either Ahsoka Tano or Bo-Katan will return with only three episodes left to air on Disney+ but there is a good shot they could comeback for future seasons or spinoffs.

Rosario Dawson also recently commented to Vanity Fair in their lengthy interview about the claims of transphobia and a lawsuit filed against her family.

SOURCE: LUCASFILM

Posted on in Television News

Mercedes Varnado Only Shot A Single Episode of ‘The Mandalorian’ and Won’t Be Reappearing As Koska Reeves In Season 2

With Mercedes Varnado aka Sasha Banks’ debut as a Mandalorian cohort of Bo-Katan (played by Katee Sackhoff) there was some assumptions that there characters could play a bigger role in Season 2 of The Mandalorian. That doesn’t seem to be the case.

According to Mercedes herself while speaking with Comic Book, she only shot a single episode which means her character Koska Reeves won’t be showing up again, at least in this season. She does sound keen on reprising the role just as much as Katee.

VARNADO: “I can only hope that the fans get to know more, I’m only in this episode. It’s awesome but we can only hopee for more stuff. So, if I can pray and manifest anything, I just hope myself and Katee, Bo-Katan, can hopefully get the Darksaber one day. But we’ll have to see, I don’t know.”

I’m not entirely sure if this means we won’t see Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan again in this season but it is a possibility. We’ll have to see if the trio will get a bigger stage in Season 3 or in spinoffs.

Chapter 13 is set to drop this Friday on Disney+.

SOURCE: COMIC BOOK

Posted on in Film News

Marvel’s ‘Ant-Man 3’ Adds Production Designer Will Htay – Worked On Multiple ‘Star Wars’ Projects and ‘No Time To Die’

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.

Posted on in Television News

Chapter 12 of ‘The Mandalorian’ Directed By Carl Weathers Includes The Triumphant Return of Horatio Sanz and New Details On What Moff Gideon Is Up To

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR CHAPTER 12 OF THE MANDALORIAN

As expected Mando in the latest episode has to do yet another side mission while the Razor Crest is being repaired on Nevarro, a lava planet from Season 1. There was an assumption this would simply be a buffer episode before Din Djarin finally meets up with Ahsoka Tano.

The Siege was directed by Carl Weathers where Mando is tasked by Greef to help them blow up an “abandoned” Imperial base elsewhere on Nevarro and we see a return of comedian Horatio Sanz (was spotted in the Season 2 trailer), who played a bounty in Chapter 1 and is now working off his debt. The group attempts to blow-up the facility to keep weapons out of the black market.

It’s revealed that it’s neither abandoned or just a base, as it looks like some sort of laboratory as we see weird tubes (giving me The Force Unleashed vibes) with what looks like some sort of failed genetic experiments that had Moff Gideon was involved with. They also mention they were indeed taking blood from The Child back in Season 1, just enough not to kill him but have run out and mention The Child having a high “M-count” referring to Midichlorian Count that was introduced in The Phantom Menace. They’re seemingly using The Child’s blood enhance subjects which may or may not be an attempt to give The Child’s vast Midichlorians to other people, possibly Moff Gideon himself.

This is the most information we’ve had concerning The Child and what Gideon wanted with him so far in the series.

At the end of the episode we learn that Cara Dune (now a Marshal) is from Alderaan and lost everyone after the Death Star destroyed the planet.

This lab remains to be seen if it’s part of the secret Palpatine plot from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker or possibly something else non-clone related. But we finally get to see Gideon in-person as they’ve placed a tracking device on the Razor Crest which suggests he’ll be showing up soon once they find Mando’s ship.

I’m curious if these experiments could be how they attempt to insert a Star Wars Legends character like Galen Marek aka Starkiller from The Force Unleashed video games and played by Sam Witwer. Having his abilities created via a lab and Baby Yoda blood making him an Imperial volunteer for this secret enchantment project. Sam has worked with Dave Filoni on the Star Wars animation series voicing both Darth Maul (also voiced him in Solo: A Star Wars Story) and Palpatine. Considering they had Katee Sackhoff play Bo-Katan, having Sam play a live-action version of character Starkiller could be fun for fans.

Thrawn was a Legends character that got a second life in Star Wars: Rebels thanks to Filoni.

Posted on in Television News

Katee Sackhoff Denies Involvement With ‘Star Wars’ Spinoff Series Featuring Cara Dune – “I Have Absolutely No Idea What You’re Talking About”

Capping-off Deadline’s debunking last week of the fan rumor that Katee Sackhoff and Gina Carano would be co-starring in a spinoff series from The Mandalorian with the pair reprising their roles of Bo-Katan and Cara Dune.

Katee is now flat-out denying it’s existence as well during an interview with the outlet stating the following.

SACKHOFF: “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about, that’s legitimately the truth.”

She added what makes the character interesting to her.

SACKHOFF: “She’s a warrior and she has struggled tremendously with being a leader. For her, I think there is a struggle and a story about who she becomes in peace, if that were to ever be accomplished and what kind of ruler she would be. She’s never really, that we’ve seen, gotten that opportunity, and whether or not she’s ready for that. Just because she thinks it’s her rightful place, doesn’t mean she’s ready or equipped to rule Mandalore.

While speaking with Entertainment Tonight she hinted Bo-Katan important part of The Mandalorian.

SACKOFF: “She’s been such a pivotal character in this world and she’s so important to this story in The Mandalorian and where it’s going.”

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Daisy Ridley Sounds Hesitant To Continue Rey’s Journey After ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ – “I Just Feel Like That Was Rey’s Perfect Ending”

Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley recently spoke with IGN to help promote her upcoming action film Chaos Walking, co-starring Tom Holland, revealing that she isn’t terribly keen on reprising Rey Skywalker in either future films or a streaming series. Suggesting they pretty much left her in a good place at the end Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Daisy seems happy with how it all ended.

RIDLEY: “I think for me the beauty of Episode IX is it ends with such hope and such potential. I just feel like that was Rey’s perfect ending. The big battle was in Episodes VII, VIII, and IX. I think really she’s probably running around the forest somewhere having a great time [following the events of The Rise of Skywalker].”

“I feel totally, totally satisfied with how that story finished. I just don’t know what else she could do that I didn’t have to do. Also, there are so many amazing characters in Star Wars, that it’s sort of an amazing thing. I was watching the new episode of Mandalorian, and it’s just like the places it can go beyond even where it is now is so exciting.”

Considering the brutal harassment Ridley got from “fans” alongside co-stars John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran it’s no wonder that she’d rather just move on with her acting career. It’s also worth mentioning that Lucasfilm hasn’t given any signs they even want to continue the Rey Skywalker Saga in live-action form anytime soon. Instead, they seem to be focusing on television for the moment with brand new films on the horizon that most likely will move away from the Skywalker timeline altogether.

John Boyega has given less fluffy answers on the topic of a potential return to the franchise feeling like Finn was mistreated in the subsequent films and dismissing the idea of reprising the character for a live-action series on Disney+ which is understandable.

SOURCE: IGN

Posted on in Television News

Katee Sackhoff Says Bo-Katan Is “Important” To The Story and Future of ‘The Mandalorian’ Series – Game For A Spinoff

Last Friday, Star Wars fans finally got to see the live-action version of Bo-Katan played by voice actress Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) and it seemed to be setting up the character for bigger things given her connection to the Darksaber that is currently in the hands of Moff Gideon. Not to mention her own journey could be explored further.

Katee stat down with Entertainment Tonight (via The Playlist) for her first interview about The Mandalorian and revealed that Bo-Katan is expected to be important to the future of the series.

SACKOFF: “She’s been such a pivotal character in this world and she’s so important to this story in The Mandalorian and where it’s going.”

Although, she seems to allude that she won’t have scenes with Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano or even confirm that casting. Tano is the next person that Mando will have to track down in upcoming episodes. But this could be something to through people off the scent of what’s to come.

SACKHOFF: “I’ve never met Rosario [Dawson], so I don’t know anything about [her role]. I love the character from Clone Wars and Rebels, so I’d love to see [Ahsoka].”

Katee points out she isn’t into spoil things for the fans and likely isn’t looking to ruin things for people.

Not to say anything is sure but it’s possible that the series could be handed-off to a new leading Mandalorian character like Bo-Katan either getting her own spinoff (a rumor that was debunked by Deadline) or taking the lead role from Din Djarin in future seasons of The Mandolarian.

Katee can’t confirm spinoff plans but says she would be interested in continuing the character as long as they want her.

SACKHOFF: “That’s what is so great about the Star Wars Universe there are so many stories…I have no idea but I would love to play this character as long as she has a story.”

I guess we’ll have to wait and see how much more Bo-Katan we’ll be getting in Season 2.

SOURCE: ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT