Disney is readying a whole lot of live-action Star Wars shows. There’s future seasons of The Mandalorian, of course. There’s an Obi-Wan Kenobi show. There’s one about Cassian Andor, there’s one about Lando Calrissian, and the list goes on.
Other than The Mandalorian, the one I’m most interested in is probably Ahsoka, which will follow ex-Jedi warrior Ahsoka Tano as she travels the galaxy. Ahsoka was introduced in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but made the jump to live-action in an episode from the second season of The Mandalorian, where she was played by Rosario Dawson. Based on that episode, her show will see her hunting for Thrawn, a villain who also featured on Dave Filoni’s Star Wars animated series. Now that Filoni is making live-action shows, he’s bringing a lot over a lot of ideas from his animation days.
And we keep hearing about more! The Hollywood Reporter mentions that “Lucasfilm is looking for an actress to star opposite Dawson as Mandalorian warrior Sabine Wren,” who was introduced on the animated show Star Wars Rebels. We don’t know who might play her or when the Ahsoka show might come out, but it’s looking like Filoni might bring the whole Star Wars animated universe into live-action before he’s done!
Bill Burr appeared on The Mandalorian because he made fun of Star Wars
Speaking of live-action Star Wars series, comedian Bill Burr revealed how he came to play mercenary Migs Mayfeld on The Mandalorian. “I went to Mike Binder’s birthday party and was there,” he explained on comedy podcast Your Mom’s House, “and he said, ‘Hey, we’re writing this thing. We kind of have you in mind. Do you want to do it?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know, Jon. I have teased Star Wars people a lot.’ He goes, ‘I know. I listen to the podcast a lot. I think it would be funny if you got in it.’ My wife was kicking me under the table and I was like, ‘All right, I’ll do it.’”
So the lesson here is: make fun of something until you’re offered the chance to participate in it, although Burr clarified that he was only ever poking fun. “I was just hating on it as a comic,” he said. “You see 1,000 people excited about something, you’re going to make fun of it.”
Taika Waititi’s Star Wars movie “feels very me”
Finally, director Taika Waititi told Wired a little about his upcoming Star Wars project, which is a movie, not a show:
"It’s still in the ‘EXT. SPACE’ stage. But we’ve got a story. I’m really excited by it because it feels very me. I tend to go down that little sincerity alleyway in my films. I like to fool the viewer into thinking ‘ha it’s this’ and then them going, ‘Damn it, you made me feel something!’"
There’s no release date for Waititi’s Star Wars movie yet, but clearly there’s plenty to entertain fans in the meantime.
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