The Writers Guild of America have posted an absolutely fascinating interview with Jon Favreau, discussing the development of The Mandalorian, his writing process, Luke Skywalker, how much of the writing he’s done himself and his collaboration with Dave Filoni.
WGA: Did you have this arc planned out from the very beginning? Specifically, was the appearance of Luke Skywalker, revealing that the story was essentially a few years after Return of the Jedi, always a set idea from the jump, or something that you arrived on after working with the material?
JF: No. The story unfolded as I wrote it. The Mandalorian inherits a great deal from existing Star Wars stories, and when I write, that context is always a consideration. It became clear that, within the established continuity, certain things were likely to transpire.
WGA: Are you concerned, having placed the story right in the midst of the saga, with the latest films having revealed Skywalker’s future, that you’re at all penned in narratively?
JF: We have a tremendous amount of freedom afforded to us because of the gap in time between the films. Dave Filoni and I are in constant discussion regarding how each story choice is impacted by, and would impact, existing Star Wars material.
WGA: And you mentioned how, at the beginning of the writing process, he started drawing images?
JF: Because he’s an animator, he started to do some sketches of moments, and then eventually, it would go to the art department and [design supervisor] Doug Chiang, so Lucasfilm art would start to generate images from the stuff I was writing. Even though the writing was a very solitary thing, there was a lot of creative collaboration on a larger level. Just having a receptive, understanding, appreciative audience for the beginnings of it, that put a lot of wind in my sails and continues to be the engine of the show.
You have to be very prolific in this new medium because so much writing is required when you’re putting that many hours television on the air. It requires creativity, which is a lot different than the burnishing of one piece of material as you do for theatrical. Here, it’s a river of writing and it’s not something where I have a big writing staff. I’ve taken on a lot of that responsibility myself, which isn’t to say that it’s not a collaborative process, but the actual typing out of it, where the rubber hits the road, ends up falling on your shoulders when you’re staring at your computer.
Having an understanding of how story fits into, not just our series, but the Star Wars universe, that’s something that requires a very collaborative approach. That collaboration is what inspires me to be able to go home and type and write scenes alone. We found a very interesting, cool balance that’s about as fulfilling as anything I’ve ever worked on in my whole career.
Be sure to head on over to the WGA website to read the whole piece.
