Development Lucasfilm and
Disney announced the development of a new live action
Star Wars series that would be released for their streaming service
Disney+ in November 2017. The series would be focused in the
Mandalorians exploring the "scum and villainy" of the
Star Wars universe taking place five years the events of the film
Return of the Jedi (1983). The series would later reveal its official title
The Mandalorian alongside the official premise. Lucasfilm president
Kathleen Kennedy saw the opportunity of the series to allow a diverse group of writers and directors to create their own
Star Wars stories. while
Deborah Chow was announced to direct two episodes for the series by October. Chow is the first woman to direct a live-action project for the
Star Wars franchise. The executive producers of the series include Kennedy, Favreau,
Dave Filoni and
Colin Wilson. The
first season's third episode titled "Chapter 3: The Sin", was written by Favreau, and was released on Disney+ on November 22, 2019.
Writing The comic book manga
Lone Wolf and Cub was influential for the development of the series, as the relationship grows stronger as it progress. Filoni revealed that the idea of the development of both of the lead characters was an idea of Favreau to inspire the manga for the creation of the series "some of his mystique had been taken away due to the prequel trilogy". Favreau idea was to reimagine that character as a straight-on bounty hunter and take that imagery of the lone gunfighter. The revelation was this idea of this child in a lone wolf cub sensibility." Seeking a redemption arc for the main character, Favreau wrote the episode's story to follow the
Mandalorian trying to initially avoid the responsibility of taking
the Child, not wanting to take the responsibility of a father by delivering the Child to the Client. However, the Mandalorian regrets his actions and decides to save him, representing the main character arc of redemption to become softer and relatable, leading him to become the prey for the assassins from the organization that he used to work. Favreu was influenced by the
John Wick film series to create the storyline, as the
titular character also breaks the rules of the organization that he worked for, thus becoming an "excomunicado" and the prey of the assassins who seek the reward forcing him to go on the run.
Casting On December 12, 2018, it was announced that
Werner Herzog,
Omid Abtahi, and
Carl Weathers had joined the main cast as
The Client,
Dr. Pershing and
Greef Karga, respectively.
Emily Swallow guest stars as
The Armorer. Gene Freeman is credited as stunt double for
Greef Karga. "
The Child" was performed by various
puppeteers.
Filming and visual effects Principal photography began in the first week of October 2018 in
Southern California. Filming took place at the Manhattan Beach Studios in
California under the
working title Project Huckleberry, while also receiving a limited location filming in the area of
Los Angeles. The series applies the
StageCraft which was created with the intention of capturing the digital environments rendered on a video wall in real time in order to bring high quality images for the to final effects.
Greig Fraser was the sole director of photography for the first and third episodes, which were filmed together at the same time. Filming for the first season
wrapped on February 27, 2019. Visual effects for the episode were created by
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM),
Base FX,
ImagineEngine,
MPC, Pixomondo, El Ranchito, Ghost FX, Hybride FX, and Important Looking Pirates. The development of the visual effects was supervised by
Richard Bluff.
Music A soundtrack album for the episode was released by digitally by
Walt Disney Records on November 22, 2019, featuring
Ludwig Göransson's score. On August 24, 2020, it was announced that Mondo would be releasing a limited edition for the complete score of the first season on vinyl edition, consisting of 8-CD discs for each episode with each one set pressed with a 180 Gram vinyl disc housed in it own jacked that features artwork by Paul Mann, while the box set is adorned with Mando's mudhorn Signet. The pre-orders for the soundtrack started on June 26, and finally released on December 15. ==Reception==