The Mandalorian showrunner talks season 2, live-action Ahsoka Tano

Even as the coronavirus pandemic shuts down productions around the globe, The Mandalorian showrunner Dave Filoni and his team have continued post-production work on the live-action Star Wars show’s second season from home. We were originally told that season 2 would debut in October, and even with the virus wrecking havoc in Hollywood, it looks like that will indeed happen!

“I will say that we are working away,” Filoni told Entertainment Tonight. “We’re pretty fortunate. We’re in a really good position to do the work we’re doing, so [creator Jon Favreau] and I are just all in on it at this point.”

The world celebrated Star Wars Day earlier this week, but it sounds like Filoni — who was also in charge of the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars — had his head down. “I’m working. I’m making Star Wars, that’s what I’m doing,” he said. “I got a lot going on, as always. It keeps me busy and I’m really happy about that. We’re working away at Lucasfilm. There’s so much good stuff that I think we’re able to do these days and so many creative people are involved with Star Wars.”

"But it’s fun for fans to have a celebration, I think we can all use some positives. The ending of the Clone Wars isn’t the biggest celebration — there’s no medal ceremony at the end — but at least fans get an ending of that saga. That’s a thing to celebrate, as we look to the future and what more stories we have to tell. There’s always another story, and we got to get to work on them now."

So season 2 is in good shape. But what actually happens in it? One of the big rumors is that Rosario Dawson may join the cast as the ex-Jedi Ahsoka Tano, marking the first time her character appears in a live-action format. From where we’re sitting, it’s basically a foregone conclusion, but I guess Filoni can’t come out and confirm it quite yet.

“I’ve been asked about a live-action Ahsoka for a long time, and I see it as, ‘Wow, it’s amazing how far we’ve come with the character,'” he said. “To go from The Clone Wars movie, where a lot of fans were like, ‘What do you mean Anakin had a Padawan? Who is this kid and why is she talking back so much?’ [but] she’s really transformed the fans’ opinions and come into her own as a character. And for me, a successful character is one that if I say Luke Skywalker, you know who I mean. If I say King Arthur, you know who I mean. Frodo Baggins, you know. They’re just iconic characters.”

"A character like that, they can live in any medium. It’s just about telling stories. So if there’s a good story and a good reason, then she could take shape or take form in any medium. All the headlining Star Wars characters– You could write a book about Leia, it would do well. You could write a book about Han, it would do well. I’m like, let’s see, can a book about Ahsoka do well? And it did, because she’s kind of reached that level. So you never know. The most important thing is, is there a good story and how well can something be done? There’s a lot of considerations around that, as there was bringing her into [Star Wars: Rebels, another animated SW show]. I’m just really glad that people like the character enough to ask."

So Ahsoka can exist in any medium, huh? Any medium in particular you had in mind, Filoni? Maybe a Disney+ show you’re currently working on?

Anyway, the Ahsoka book Filoni is talking about is called Star Wars: Ahsoka, from author E.K. Johnston, and it follows the adventures of everyone’s favorite former Jedi as she navigates a galaxy where the Jedi are no more. The book is a great read and even describes the process she used to create her unique white-bladed lightsabers.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Ahsoka may end up becoming a fan favorite on The Mandalorian like she is on The Clone Wars, but The Mandalorian already has a fan favorite: Baby Yoda.

Or rather, the Child, which is the little guy’s actual name, not that it seems to catch on with anybody in the audience. “I don’t know if that will ever not be the case, you know what I mean?” Filoni said “Maybe I’m weird, but I don’t really have a problem with it. I look at it and think, ‘Well, what else would you call it?'”

"As a kid, we called the one alien a hammerhead. Well, he looked like a hammerhead shark. I don’t know what to tell you. I still call them hammerheads, even though they’re Ithorians. It’s such a fun thing and what an amazing job Legacy did with the puppetry and ILM [did] with the visual effects. It’s a living, breathing little guy."

Yeah, I see why you would call an Ithorian a hammerhead:

Filoni returned as a director for The Mandalorian season 2, along with some new big names. They didn’t get Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi to come back, but Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Alita: Battle Angel) is on board, as is Ant-Man director Peyton Reed:

And there may be other special guests we don’t know about! For example, actor Ray Park — who played Darth Maul way back in Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace — has raising eyebrows over an Instagram post where he checks an already-iconic catchphrase Mandalorian catchphrase:

“THIS IS THE WAY.” You’ll recall that the Mandalorians are fond of saying that back and forth to each other. And the black-and-white star burst is Maul’s symbol — it represents his eye.

So is Park trying to say that Maul is on his way to hassle the Mandalorian, Baby Yoda, and the rest? Maybe. We did see Maul die on Star Wars: Rebels, where he was killed by his old nemesis Obi-Wan Kenobi sometime between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope…but we also saw him get literally sliced in half in The Phantom Menace and he bounced back from that just fine, so anything is possible.

We’ll find out one way or another come October!

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h/t Geek Tyrant