He also discusses Mandalorian culture and the symbolic importance of the Darksabre.
With The Mandalorian Season 3’s first episode ‘The Apostate’ now out in the wild, Film Stories have spoken to Jon Favreau about the show. It’s a great read, with interviewer Jon Moore asking the series’ showrunner about his approach to a property with such deeply established lore.
He also asks about how they manage to maintain the fun:
“I think we have fun with it and we know that Star Wars has to be fun. It has to be hopeful. It also has to be accessible to the next generation, because that’s what it was when we engaged with it. So that’s a litmus test.
It’s not that it always has to always be like that – I really enjoyed Andor quite a bit, I thought they did a great job, and I think Rogue One also had a tonal thing that feels more mature but still feels like Star Wars – but for our purposes, and with having a puppet as one of our leads, it has to feel a little bit more geared towards all ages.
We’d like to have many generations watch together, parents and children, so we have to map out where we think all of this is going bearing all of that in mind. But we also have to be flexible as things reveal themselves logically, as we learn from what we’re cutting it together, and – to some extent – how it’s embraced or not and how people feel about it.
Television has a back-and-forth that shapes the journey, and that’s part of the fun of it.”
Favreau also speaks about the fundamentalist aspects of Mandalorian culture:
“You have one group that clearly believes one thing, another group that believes another – but that wasn’t anywhere near Mandalore for all this stuff during Clone Wars, and there’s Bo-Katan Kryze [played by Katee Sackhoff] you know, who was there as part of the royal family? Who’s right, who’s wrong, which is the way?”
And the importance of the Darksabre:
“Then the Darksaber is in the midst of it all, this symbolic totem… That is magical? Does it create leadership? Is it something that’s symbolic? Is it the will of the other Mandalorians to follow this thing? What does all of it mean? It has a tie together. What happened? Clearly, the planet’s not doing great. Up to this point, things haven’t been going wonderfully – even in The Clone Wars, the planet wasn’t looking so good from all the civil wars that were happening over centuries – so I think that becomes the inspiration, and how you resolve these conflicts and trains that are heading towards each other on the same track?”
The interview continues, discussing the technology developed for the show and the motivations of the villainous Moff Gideon, as played by Giancarlo Esposito. You can check out the whole interview at Film Stories.
The Mandalorian Season 3 streams on Disney+ with eight new “chapters” dropping weekly on Wednesdays until April 19th, 2023.