Live-Action Star Wars series, "The Mandalorian," dominates on Disney+
It has only been one month since Disney+ started streaming content including original movies and television shows. An immediate success is their new live-action Star Wars series called The Mandalorian, which takes place a few years after the events of Return of the Jedi. The new series involves director, producer and screenwriter Jon Favereau, who is known for directing Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Disney’s live-action The Jungle Book and The Lion King.
Favereau is the creator, head writer, and showrunner, as well as executive producer of The Mandalorian, and although he plans to direct an episode of the second season, he was too busy with the production of The Lion King to direct any of the series' first season.
“After the stories of (bounty hunters) Jango and Boba Fett, another warrior emerges in the Star Wars universe,” said Favereau of the new television series’s premise. “The Mandalorian is set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order. The series depicts a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic.”
Disney+ has been releasing each new episode of The Mandalorian series on a weekly basis since Nov. 12, 2019. The first two episodes were released only a few days apart on Nov. 12 and Nov. 15. The seventh episode will be released two days early, on Dec. 18 instead of Dec. 20, in order to attach a sneak preview of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which will be in theaters on Dec 20th.
During the week of Nov. 10-16, The Mandalorian had stronger U.S. demand than the top four of 2019’s biggest streaming originals: Netflix's The Umbrella Academy, When They See Us, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Amazon Prime Video's Good Omens, and also replaced Stranger Things as America’s most in demand series. The show is the first live-action Star Wars series.
Much of the social media reaction has been to the show's breakout character, a 50-year old “infant” of the infamous character Yoda's species that The Mandalorian warrior initially encounters on a bounty hunting assignment. He ends up becoming a guardian of sorts to the Yoda in order to protect it after it has shown to have the powers of The Force. The character has been nicknamed "Baby Yoda,” which is said to be a misnomer since the original Yoda died in Return of the Jedi before the events of the series take place. No matter what you call “Baby Yoda,” he is the latest internet hit and together with this Mandalorian warrior, has helped the show to grab the attention of a worldwide audience. Walt Disney Studios chief creative officer Alan Horn stated that “if The Mandalorian is successful, a film featuring the character could be developed.”