The Mandalorian - Star Wars Live Action Series

Taika Waititi, Bryce Dallas Howard and Rick Famuyiwa are all lined to direct episodes of the new Star Wars Live Action Series.

Boasting a $100 million dollar series budget the latest Star Wars Spin off looks like it could be the ultimate Star Wars fanboy dream series. The series takes place between the fall of Empire and before the rise of the first order in a time where Mandalorians made famous by Boba Fett in the original Star Wars films and prequels roam the galaxy.

Not much is known about the finer details of the backstory or if the Mandalorian will feature just one lone gun for hire or other Mandalorians although its a firm bet that Fett has to make an appearance somewhere along the line even as a flashback. Taking place after the fall of the Empire would mean Fett currently resides in the small intestine of the Sarlacc but who knows where this could go.

The bad news is, The Mandalorian will be one of the live action properties featured on Disney's forthcoming subscription streaming service, so if you're already paying out for Netflix and Amazon streaming services you're gonna need to add Disney's to get a slice of this new sci-fi.

Being a huge Star Wars fan I'm quite looking forward to this series, as much as I loathe to have to sign up for yet another streaming service just to enjoy it i'd like to see what else Disney's service has to offer, particularly in light of the fact that Netflix is dolling out billions of dollars on creating original content over the coming months. I confess that I avoided Solo and was one of the many 'butt hurt' fans who felt let down by The Last Jedi, both films just didn't resonate as valid extensions of the saga to me and its characters felt like they were being scraped off the decades of cultural relevance they had built from the original saga to make way for the new - but not so much improved formula of film makers. (although I will say Ron Howard is an absolute master at his craft) 

I think Solo did relatively okay at review but it certainly didn't line Disney's pockets with gold as they had hoped. The Mandalorian on the other hand helps build the foundation for the mysterious helmet clad warriors of the Star Wars universe without any real danger of stepping on fans toes, in fact I think people want more background and history to these guys, where they came from, what they're all about and the series provides a great canvas with which to weave some fantastic storytelling. The sheer fact that Jon Favreau is at the heart of this helps me sleep at night, he absolutely nailed Iron Man for Marvel fans (okay so maybe Iron Man 2 was a little off) but he knows how to treat the merchandise with cotton gloves, and he's a superb film maker and creative force to boot.

Who are the Mandalorians? Well according to their wikipedia entry they were visualized as supercommando's,bounty hunters and mercenaries all rolled into one.

" Mandalorians are a fictional people from the planet Mandalore in the Star Wars science fiction franchise created by George Lucas. First conceptualized for The Empire Strikes Back as a group of white-armored "supercommandos", the idea developed into a single bounty hunter character, Boba Fett. Although the term "Mandalorian" is never used in the films, the popularity of Boba Fett inspired an extensive number of works about Mandalorians in the Star Wars expanded universe, also known as Legends.

Recognized by their iconic armor, the Mandalorian people are characterized in the expanded universe as a multi-species warrior people who often work as mercenaries and bounty hunters. The Clone Wars television series reintroduced them to the franchise as a human people and introduced the New Mandalorians, pacifists who wish to distance themselves from Mandalore's warrior traditions. Mandalorian warrior characters also appear in the Rebels television series, and an upcoming live-action streaming series entitled The Mandalorian."

The Mandalorian would appear to be a very exciting opportunity for Disney to get back on track with its Star Wars I.P which was no doubt dented with the poor performance of Solo. With no real confirmation on the Boba Fett movie from James Mangold (Logan) or the timings on when that's due to land, could The Mandalorian be a precursor to establishing the groundwork and provide better pacing for the franchise which fans felt was on overload with too much Star Wars being rammed down their throats?