According to a late piece in Variety regarding Dave Filoni’s promotion to Executive Creative Director, which Variety claims happened last summer but was only updated on the official Lucasfilm site this week, one of the four Mandoverse Disney Plus projects is no longer in development. Along with The Mandalorian which began production of its third season early last month in California, The Book of Boba Fett which arrives in December 2021 and Ahsoka, Rangers of the New Republic was set to delve into the characters of the New Republic post-Battle of Endor and feature Cara Dune, but given Lucasfilm and Disney’s decision to not pick up Gina Carano‘s contract, Variety claim that the show is no longer in active development.
In December, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy announced that Filoni and Favreau are executive producing several “Mandalorian” spinoffs for Disney Plus, including “The Book of Boba Fett,” which is currently shooting and premiering in December, and “Ahsoka,” starring Rosario Dawson, and based on the character Filoni created in “The Clone Wars.” (A third announced spinoff, “Rangers of the New Republic,” is not currently in active development.)
Kennedy also said these spinoffs, which all take place within the same timeline, will ultimately culminate in a “storytelling event.” Filoni’s title as executive creative director captures the complicated role of overseeing both individual series and a larger storyline that weaves together several shows. Given Filoni’s galaxy-sized “Star Wars” expertise, he’s also been known to weigh in on other “Star Wars” projects outside of his direct purview.
That doesn’t mean the show won’t happen somewhere down the line. No word has been given on its fate, and Lucasfilm have plenty more projects on the go, but for now it would appear that one quarter of the Mandoverse projects has hit the pause button.
