SWCE Day 2: Mandalorian, Tales of the Jedi, Andor News
Today at Star Wars Celebration, several smaller tidbits came to light. Tales of the Jedi is getting a second season, with Dave Filoni saying, “Tales of the Jedi was so fun the first time, I decided to do some more.” No release date, episode count, or any other details were announced. The Mandalorian producer/director Rick Famuyiwa revealed that the show is no longer about Din Djarin but Mandalorian culture on the whole. Meanwhile, Andy Serkis reveals he believes his Andor character, Kino Loy, is alive in Narkina 5 after the show’s events. Return of the Jedi is returning to theaters for its 40th anniversary. Kathleen Kennedy remarked that Rogue Squadron could be revived as a TV series for Disney+ rather than outright scrapped. Finally, Kennedy stated there is no active work on a second season of Obi-Wan Kenobi but that it’s still on the table. Check out her remarks here:
“That is not an active development,” she said. “But I never say never, because there’s always the possibility. That show was so well-received and [director] Deborah Chow did such a spectacular job. Ewan McGregor really wants to do another. Everybody’s all hands on deck with what we’re doing right now, as you can see by what we showed everybody [at the Celebration]. We’ll turn our attention to that again maybe down the road.”
In that interview, Kennedy also updates Taika Waititi’s movie as in the writing stage and blames the lack of movement on Rian Johnson’s trilogy on his busy schedule.
I’ll start with what I’m happiest about: more Tales of the Jedi! Based on the concept art and talent involved, I assumed I would like this series of short character vignettes. However, it was more than I hoped for, especially the Count Dooku episodes. I hope they pick more characters for each season so we can learn more about lesser-fleshed-out Jedi, just like Dooku. That did a lot for his character in my eyes, and I’d love the same for, say, Plo Koon or Pong Krell.
I’m not happy with the Mandalorian announcement, but it confirms what we’ve all been saying for weeks. I’m okay with exploring Mando culture, and Bo-Katan is a cool, interesting character. But I don’t appreciate the pivot away from the show’s lead character and Grogu’s relegation to a cute prop. I like the idea of a Return of the Jedi rerelease, but they’ll probably only do the special editions, and that’s not what most people would like to see on the big screen. I never saw the original trilogy in cinema, so I would love to see it how it originally was.
It’s cool that Kino Loy is alive, at least in Andy Serkis’ mind. It’s dark, too; we saw how hellish this prison was in no uncertain terms. And Kino was a floor manager with some authority; now, after leading an escape and uprising, he’s probably got it much worse. I don’t feel strongly about Rogue Squadron one way or another, but I find it odd to revive something that was so heavily marketed on its creator without her involvement.
As for Obi-Wan Kenobi, we all know more is coming, but I’m relieved it’s not here yet. This show was terrible. While Boba Fett was a worse production in technical terms, this show was story-breaking and carelessly written. I like Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen as much as the next fan, but this show was pointless fluff designed to sell Disney+ subscriptions and nothing more. Any additional seasons would only serve to beat the dead horse, and I don’t understand how anyone could be excited for more of this tripe.
But what do you think? Which announcements are you pumped for, what are you skipping, or do you think they should just stop? Drop us a comment below!
