Official Images and Details Released for The Mandalorian Season 2

The Mandalorian Season 2 was slated for an October 30th release on Disney + last week, but today, after what seems like way too long of a time to wait for some actual official information from the show’s second season, EW has released new images and some insights into it.

This is the way!

The EW piece features a handful of new images from the show’s second season, as well as choice cast and crew quotes about the creative experience they all shared shooting the first and second seasons of the show.

Jon and Dave’s Relationship

Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are naturally featured, and Jon filled fans in on how he views his bond with Dave, which he describes as the same bond Dave and George had:

“I’ll come up with ideas and sometimes Dave will say, ‘You can’t do this in Star Wars.’ Then I’ll cite examples from the movies, or Clone Wars, to try to use as a justification. I’m like a lawyer talking to a judge; I am to him as he was to George. I won’t do anything without Dave’s approval. And to his credit, he understands that Stars Wars needs to be fun and ever-evolving.”

Jon Favreau

You gotta appreciate little anecdotes like this, because their bond is definitely why this show is so damn good, so it’s awesome to read about how much Jon respects Dave for his Star Wars knowledge, as well as how Dave respects Jon for his all around storytelling skills.

Rumored Characters

The article also touched on all of the rumored new characters and/or guest stars, and while none of them were officially confirmed, Gina Carano did drop a quote that suggests at least some of the rumored actors like Rosario Dawson, Michael Biehn, and Temura Morrison, will indeed be in the show.

“Some of them are true, some are not sure.”

Gina Carano

New Season Goes Beyond Mando-centric Tales

The EW preview also featured Favreau talking about the increased scope of the show’s plot, which will now extend a bit more into the Star Wars universe than just focusing on Din’s doings.

“The new season is about introducing a larger story in the world. “The stories become less isolated, yet each episode has its own flavor, and hopefully we’re bringing a lot more scope to the show.”

Jon Favreau

“Everything gets bigger, the stakes get higher, but also the personal story between the Child and the Mandalorian develops in a way I think people will enjoy.” 

Dave Filoni

Jon also discussed how the show will follow other character journeys in this season, which he said is a bit influenced by how Game of Thrones played out.

“As we introduce other characters, there are opportunities to follow different storylines. The world was really captivated by Game of Thrones and how that evolved as the characters followed different storylines — that’s very appealing to me as an audience member.” 

Jon Favreau

This statement definitely guarantees the arrival of other major characters, as they would be worth following on their own outside of needing Mando to aid their tales.

Timeline and Din’s Challenges

According to the article, Season 2 will pick up with Mando soon after the events of Season 1, and he will be in unfamiliar territory. Pedro Pascal commented on this fact:

“We start very directly after the first [season] and he’s going into very dangerous territory. He is very much a passenger to the experience in unexpected ways — not knowing what’s to come, not knowing how much or how best to protect the Child. We don’t know how far he will go to do that, and they’re finding new ways to push the envelope.”

Pedro Pascal

Mando, Gideon, and the Child

It appears these three will definitely mix it up more than once in Season 2 of the show, which we heard bits of from Giancarlo Esposito while he talked about his sword fighting scenes. But it also appears as if his Moff Gideon character will be working Mando over mentally as well.

In fact, Esposito hints that Gideon may get Mando to do some of his bidding, so they may possibly work together for some reason. Plus, it sounds like Gideon definitely has some grand plans for using the Force.

 “I’ll be going toe-to-toe with Mando. It’s an iconic battle. I want to disarm him mentally as well. Who knows? Maybe there’s an opportunity to get him to fight some battles for me. You may think I’m a villain, but I’m trying to harness some energy and some powers for a path that could be best for all. You’ll get to see him be somewhat diplomatic and more of a manipulator.”  

Giancarlo Esposito

That definitely sounds like a Darth Vader to Luke pitch, or an Anakin to Padme pitch, so I can’t wait to see how this relationship plays out. I’m still going with Gideon being a Mandalorian himself, but only time will tell at this point.

We do also learn that Gideon will command a larger vehicle, so that could mean a full on Star Destroyer or something like an AT-AT, which would be fucking radical. The article also highlights the fact that Gideon and The Child will be spending some one-on-one time together, so be prepared for some space opera stress!

Final Notes

• These are just a few of the final interesting nuggets from the full piece:
• Greef Karga is trying to be more legitimate, but he may still have some selfish plans in the back of his head
• Greef and Cara have become good buddies and almost finish each other’s sentences
• The hardest part of post-production was doing the score remotely due to COVID
• “I have no question fans are going to like this season even more — everything’s in there. If you’re a Star Wars fan, you’re going to get to see things you’ve always wanted to see.” – Carano
• “You want The Empire Strikes Back to be better than A New Hope.” – Dave Filoni

Check out the full article over at EW!