Jon Favreau has mentioned in the build up to The Mandalorian and Grogu that he wants the film to appeal to new fans just as much as the existing ones, but he’s delved into what he means a little bit more in a new interview with AP News.
Favreau mentions that even though he identifies as a Star Wars fan himself, he understands that he has a responsibility to draw in the next generation of Star Wars fans as well by giving them something that they can get just as much enjoyment from as a veteran.
“Even though in our hearts we are Star Wars fans, we make it for Star Wars fans, and we know that there’s a certain set of expectations around what Star Wars should be that we collectively hold, there is the responsibility to invite a whole new generation of people into Star Wars. That means that if a Star Wars fan brings somebody who’s not, they’ve got to have as good of a time as the fans do.
“I want to make the next generation feel the way about Star Wars that I did when I saw it for the first time.”
One way to do that is to take the exact same approach George Lucas did with the original film. Even though he dropped audiences right in the middle of an ongoing story, no one ever felt lost or overwhelmed as they got to know the world and its characters. This is what Favreau wants to do with The Mandalorian and Grogu.
“George has always understood that you have to fit into the mythic structure. There are certain story types that we connect with and understand and even if we might not know the particulars of the story he’s telling, we could drop right in and understand and know who to cheer for.”
Rotta The Hutt is a good example of dropping audiences into a story featuring an unfamilar character, one which only veteran Star Wars animation fans will remember (he debuted as a baby in The Clone Wars animated film in 2009 and hasn’t been seen since). Yet Favreau believes that new viewers will get to know the character quickly without getting lost or confused. He also reveals that he will never be referred to as “Stinky”, the affectionate nickname Ahsoka gives him in that film.
“That’s one of those fun things for people who may have been following along since the first ‘Clone Wars’ film. If you don’t know who he is, you’re going to figure it out pretty quick. And he’s a lot different than people remember, and I think we have a bit of fun with that.”
Favreau also gave some praise to former Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, who greenlit The Mandalorian and Grogu before leaving the role.
“She’s definitely a Mount Rushmore producer. I also think she did a wonderful job preparing the next generation.”
As he has done in other interviews, Favreau also touched on how he went about creating The Mandalorian and Grogu for IMAX. Like with A New Hope, Favreau cited Flash Gordon as one of the influences here.
“With the bigger screen and the larger production value, we were able to dip into another one of George Lucas’ influences, which is the Flash Gordon-style space opera where you get big monsters and creatures and worlds.
“We get to do a lot more than we had the ability to do when we had to turn the show around in a year and fit it onto a television screen. Now we’re in IMAX, we had several years to do it. We got to build sets, we got to build miniatures, we got to have stop motion set pieces … it opened up a lot of opportunities to do things that we never got to do before.
“All of it comes down to seeing it with an audience. That’s the part I’m looking forward to.”
For the full interview, including some details on Din Djarin that have mostly been said elsewhere, head to AP News. We’re roughly three weeks away from The Mandalorian and Grogu arriving in theatres on May 22.
Josh is a huge Star Wars fan, who has spent far too much time wondering if any Star Wars character could defeat Thanos with all the Infinity Stones.