The more eager Star Wars fans learn about Jon Favreau’s upcoming live-action series The Mandalorian, the greater the excitement becomes. The Disney+ streaming show boasts an impressive cast, as well as a wide array of talented directors, and it even garnered the blessing of Star Wars creator George Lucas, who visited the set during production. But aside from being responsible for its source material and posing for Instagram photos, how involved is Lucas?
According to Breaking Bad alum Giancarlo Esposito, who plays an Imperial villain of sorts in the series, Lucas was apparently very involved in the show’s development, which was overseen by showrunner Favreau. In an interview with Collider, the actor said Favreau had been “working with George Lucas on this particular piece and making it a piece that we can really relate to now in our world that we’re in.” He also claimed that the pair had “figured it out” together during the pre-production, or development, phase of the show.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that Lucas was on The Mandalorian set regularly, giving Favreau story notes or discussing beats with the cast and crew. For all we know, he simply served as an occasional guide for Favreau and collaborator Dave Filoni (of The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels fame) during the creative process. Then again, seeing as how Lucas’s own live-action series, Star Wars: Underworld, was never able to get off the ground after its announcement in 2005, perhaps he was just really interested in helping.
(Via Collider)