Mando and Cub Update
The leaks are finally sprinkling out of LucasFilm with regards to Jon Favreau’s “new” project and how it came about.
It started with the unwanted Rey movie. The rumor is that it started with Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. Shooting was scheduled to begin in April this year and everybody who doesn’t work at Disney was left blinking in shock when they heard that one.
LucasFilm is far too dysfunctional and boned up eighty ways from sunrise to meet that deadline. There was simply no way in hell they were going to be able to get something (anything) out of development and in front of cameras by then.
Steven Knight of Peaky Blinders fame had been hired to run up the script and the rumor is that it had been a good one even with Rey in it. Kathleen Kennedy, Dave Filoni, and the Story Group all agreed it was excellent… But they did have some notes.
Knight is so horrified by the required changes he has unofficially hit the road.
Allegedly, reality had been faced for once at Fort Mickey and there were discussions going on about which project was going to be put in the Rey movie’s filming slot at Shinfield Studios. Sharmeen supposedly heard about that, was not at all cool about it, and decided to make some men uncomfortable by shooting off her mouth in public. She is after all an activist first and foremost.
What she wasn’t expecting was for some old clips of hers to be dug and taken out of context. Welcome to the internet Sharmeen. It wasn’t a shit storm it was a shit cyclone.
Disney has finally gotten used to internet clap-backs but this was a little too much like a standing ovation. They had to get this off the news cycle and since it was already obvious the Rey movie was dead in the water, they needed to find something far enough along in development that KK and the Krew couldn’t derail it. Or at least not easily.
The view was; ‘Okay, Mando season four is already scripted. We’ve got a six-episode season, so what we do is, peel off the last two episodes, slap them together, jam some filler into them and we’ve got instant movie.’
A few of the more perpetually optimistic fans were hoping that at least since Jon Favreau is writing it this on might be halfway decent.
It came out this morning that Dave Filoni would be “plusing” it. Which means, in case there was ever any doubt on your part, that this project will be a giant flaming dumpster fire of crap.
Maybe after Mando season 2 (assuming Kathleen Kennedy didn’t poison the well by firing Gina Carano), it probably could have pulled in a billion dollars. There is no way in hell it can get anywhere close to that now.
The newest leaks indicate there is a lot of discussions going on at the moment as to whether they should lead in to the Mando and Cub movie with a partial season or just scrap the fourth season in favor of the movie.
The latter would undoubtedly be pretty easy to do. Every season of The Mandalorian so far has been a setup episode as the season opener, then a whole bunch of filler episodes that advance that plot not at all. Followed by the season finale where the narrative started in the season opener is resolved. Cut out the filler crap and you’ve basically got a movie ready to go.
However, rumors of the Rey movie being indefinitely delayed has spooked Lucasfilm into declaring that this is simply not the case. The project is moving forward.
And given the LucasFilm Lexicon, they’re right.
Indefinitely Delayed means canceled. Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron is Indefinitely Delayed.
The Rey movie has only been “reshuffled.” Meaning it is in development hell and may never see a theatrical release but is in the running for Disney +.
No getting around it. Reporting on LucasFilm is far more entertaining than watching anything they make.
Developing
