Moff Gideon actor Giancarlo Esposito says shooting on The Mandalorian season 3 starts soon. No one knew if the Star Wars universe would translate to the world of streaming when Disney and Lucasfilm’s live-action bounty hunter saga debuted in late 2019. But the future of Star Wars on Disney+ was secured when The Mandalorian became a breakout hit.
The huge fan response to season 1 of course was largely due to the arrival of Baby Yoda, the little green alien who spawned a thousand memes and merchandising opportunities. Season 2 then delved deeper into the backstory of Baby Yoda aka Grogu while bringing in more familiar Star Wars universe characters like Ahsoka Tano, Bo-Katan Kryze and even Boba Fett himself. Now there are plans for multiple new Star Wars shows, including The Book of Boba Fett, which recently went into production. Meanwhile, The Mandalorian finds itself at a crossroads after the events of season 2, which climaxed with the arrival of Luke Skywalker and the departure of Grogu.
It remains to be seen where The Mandalorian will go storywise as it heads into season 3. As for when that season will arrive, that has not been officially pinpointed, but work on the show is about to crank up again as one of its stars just confirmed. Appearing at GalaxyCon Raleigh (via WRAL.com), Moff Gideon actor Esposito offered an update on the status of not one but two Star Wars shows, saying "They just finished shooting Boba Fett and soon they will start on [Mandalorian] season 3.” This upends another recent report suggesting Mandalorian season 3 has already begun filming.
In addition to his confirmation about when work on the new Mandalorian season begins, Esposito also assured worried fans that star Pedro Pascal’s current work on the HBO series The Last of Us won’t have an impact on his Star Wars duties. As Esposito explained, Pascal doesn’t have to show up on set with everyone else as he’s able to record his vocal performance while his helmeted doubles do the actual physical acting work. "We never have to wait on Pedro,” Esposito said. The Moff Gideon actor was also asked if he thought fans might see more of Pascal’s face in season 3, but wouldn’t give that particular bit of information away. “I can't speak to that. I mean, I know he'd love to be more off the helmet, but you know, his job is to be in the helmet,” Esposito said.
Indeed Esposito has been quoted quite a bit talking about The Mandalorian season 3 lately. One quote saw him proclaiming that Baby Yoda has the ability to see the future, while another had him saying Grogu could ultimately be the key to saving the entire Star Wars universe. In another instance, he joked that he actually kills Baby Yoda in the new season.
In truth it would be more than a little surprising to see Grogu show up at all in season 3 as the show appears ready to go in an entirely different direction. On the other hand, the popularity of Baby Yoda is undeniable and it’s possible the powers-that-be at Lucasfilm and Disney aren’t ready to sideline the character just yet. The daring move would be to see Din Djarin embark on a completely new adventure unrelated to the events of the first two seasons of The Mandalorian. But “daring” unfortunately isn’t always at the top of the list when it comes to Disney’s Star Wars agenda.
Source: WRAL.com