Mami and Papi were in the building.
Or, at least, that’s what some fans screamed in the sold-out Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, as Katee Sackhoff and Pedro Pascal took the stage. The two stars were a last-minute addition to Paleyfest, a festival celebrating the best in television. The news that they would join The Mandalorian panel broke only two days before.
Sackhoff and Pascal did not disappoint. The chemistry between them was was palpable as they playfully bantered and smiled at one another, and when asked questions about their roles, they both offered nuggets of insight into their characters of Bo-Katan Kryze and Din Djarin respectively. Sackhoff noted that seeing her character move from animation to live action was more than she could have ever dreamed. She went on to say that her story this season seems like a culmination of everything we’ve seen Bo-Katan go through in animation and yet, she said, with a wink, there’s still so much more to do. Pascal very eloquently said that Din “steps into his truest identity through his relationship with Grogu.” For me, this created a nice connection between the Din and Grogu-specific scenes in Season 3 thus far, with the bigger story the season is trying to tell about the revival of Mandalorian culture.
Pascal was also an amazing cheerleader, as he complimented each of his fellow panelists one by one. He was especially effusive about Jon Favreau, discussing what seemed like his entire filmography. When asked how The Mandalorian has changed his life, Pascal said that he knew he felt safe signing on to do this series and knew it would change his life because of all the talented people involved. Earlier in the discussion, he had also complimented the creators on such specific world building. “I forget that it doesn’t come from an encyclopedia,” he admitted. In response, Dave Filoni quipped that there actually are encyclopedias you can buy, and jokingly promised to send Pascal some copies. This kind of humor permeated the entire conversation, making the panel as entertaining as it was illuminating.
While Sackhoff and Pascal were a delightful addition to the panel, the Q and A, moderated by Entertainment Tonight’s Ash Crossan, noticeably directed more questions at the creators behind the hit series: Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, and Rick Famuyiwa. They covered a range of topics, from how production in television feels more like a team sport than production in film, to how Industrial Light and Magic legend Phil Tippett collaborated with designers to create the “haunted” and “creepy” Mines of Mandalore featured in Chapter 18, to how Ahmed Best exemplifies a Jedi in real life, to how, despite what some fans may have assumed, Favreau and company had already filmed Season 3 before they had seen Andor, and therefore were not influenced by it.
But two big threads ran throughout the entire panel: 1. big secrets, past and future and 2. how the porting of characters from animation to live action has been a defining feature of the creative endeavor that is the Mando-verse.
Well-kept secrets have been a hallmark of The Mandalorian, most notably with the initial reveal of “The Child” at the beginning of Season 1 and Luke Skywalker’s shocking appearance at the end of Season 2. Favreau spoke quite sincerely about why they worked so hard to keep these surprises from leaking, saying that it was all for the Star Wars community. “Star Wars is as much about the community of Star Wars as the stories,” he said, specifically noting at one point that he knows multiple generations will watch Star Wars together, which “doesn’t happen that much nowadays.” Even when the pandemic kept people out of theaters and kept us apart, Favreau felt like we were all together virtually, experiencing the show at the same time. They have always wanted to keep those secrets so that everyone could experience the joy of them together. This panel featured a special screening of Chapter 21 before the panel discussion began, and, personally, I can say that seeing the episode on a big screen, with a huge crowd cheering (and in the case of Elia Kane, booing) at all the character entrances or other big moments — it made for an unparalleled viewing experience.
Not everyone on the set, of course, was in the know. During this part of the discussion, Katee Sackhoff gave Filoni a hard time about keeping Luke Skywalker a secret from her. She facetiously explained that Filoni — someone she thought was her friend — lied to her face, saying that Plo Koon would be the one to come to the rescue at the end of Season 2. Once she saw Mark Hamill and body double Max Lloyd-Jones, she bitterly said, “That is NOT Plo Koon!” As Sackhoff aired her grievances, Filoni sheepishly put his cowboy hat over his face in embarrassment and guilt. In his defense, he then very impressively rattled off all of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s lines from Return of the Jedi, including “you’re going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.” From her point of view, they were lying to her. From his point of view, they were keeping a valuable secret.
Amidst all this good-natured bickering about Luke Skywalker, audience members learned that Jon Favreau has a deep love for R2-D2 because when Favreau and Filoni were deciding which character makes the most sense as the Jedi who answers Grogu’s call, Dave said to Jon that “if we get Luke Skywalker….we also get R2.” Since R2 is one of Jon’s favorite characters, the thought of that made him that much more excited about the decision. From where I sat, Favreau’s face seemed like he had suddenly been transported back to his childhood; his fondness for R2 rushed back to him, and his eyes widened — they may have even welled up for a brief moment. He then explained that once they knew R2 would appear alongside Luke, that they had to try to imitate the iconic shot of Wicket reaching out to R2 in Return of the Jedi.
Looking ahead to secrets that have yet to be revealed, I inferred (again, no one admitted anything explicitly) that there’s something big happening soon, either at the end of this season or in one of the series slated for release later on – something big that Filoni was really afraid that one of them would let slip by accident. Having heard Filoni speak at other Q&As and interviews, I can say that a certain percentage of his worry was likely performative, as the “I’m terrified a spoiler will get out during this” and “I can’t handle being the keeper of all the secrets” anxiety has been a pretty consistent component of his public persona. At one point he let out a shaky laugh and said, “There’s so much you don’t know.”
When asked how much of the rest of the series they have planned out, Filoni said that since they enjoy making this show, they will try to keep making it as long as possible; at the same time, they always have an end game for an arc in mind. With Rebels, for example, he always knew with Ezra that the end game was to save his planet and his people. All Filoni would definitely say about the remainder of Season 3 and the forthcoming Ahsoka and Skeleton Crew (sorry, still no release dates yet) was this: “There are plans. There are shows. With characters in them.” After a long pause he then closed out this vague statement with, “This is the Way.” Only the Armorer herself could have been more cryptic! That said, Filoni became the most visibly nervous when Favreau casually mentioned Zeb and, in response to a different question, when Favreau — almost mischievously — mentioned Doctor Pershing. So it’s possible that those two characters may return in a big way before the season is out.
Many critics and fans have said that Bo-Katan is the one character who has dominated Season 3 thus far, so it made sense that a lot of the Paleyfest panel discussion kept circling back to the idea of characters from animated series making the move into live action. Towards the beginning of the Q&A, moderator Ash Crossan asked Filoni about how they approach adapting animated characters for the live action context, and Filoni replied with glowing praise for the Lucasfilm animation team, who make it easy to adapt these characters because they’ve designed them so well.
Bo-Katan was the first character to transition from animation to live action in The Mandalorian when she appeared in Chapter 11, “The Heiress.” (For all of Star Wars, Saw Gerrera holds the distinction, since Forest Whitaker played him in Rogue One before The Mandalorian began.) When Crossan asked Favreau about animated characters making the jump, he noted that the process has been a lot more surreal for Sackhoff and Filoni, as the actress playing one of these characters and the creator of the character respectively. Filoni then told the story of when he first saw Sackhoff on set as live action Bo-Katan and how surreal and weird it was for both of them. He also bragged that when Sackhoff was first cast as the voice actor for Bo-Katan in The Clone Wars animated series, he told her, “You never know. One day, this character might be in live action.” Sackoff then chimed in by saying, “You say that now, but at the time I thought you were drunk.” Making a more sincere shift, however, she admitted that one of the first things she said to Filoni on her first day on the set of The Mandalorian was, “You did it…” Even though they were seated on opposite ends of the stage, I could feel the warmth, respect, and friendship between Sackhoff and Filoni. It was pure delight to see that kind of dynamic between the two minds behind one of my favorite characters.
As a fan, I often forget that Filoni himself had to make the transition to live action storytelling just as the characters he created have. He shared with the audience that he feels more pressure in live action than animation. You can change whatever you want on the spot pretty easily in animation, making something bigger or smaller, for example. But live action has higher production stakes. “The story better be good because this looks expensive!” he said, paraphrasing what he’s thought to himself while looking around a set.
Through this comment as well as the comments made throughout the panel, these creators and artists made it clear that, as Filoni himself said, they want to keep the Star Wars galaxy “vibrant, special, and alive, for generation after generation.” Filoni very poignantly speculated that many of these characters would probably live on long after he’s gone. It’s clear that he and the others feel a sense of responsibility and legacy when they work on this show that so many of us love.
Guest article by Jen Sopchockchai Bankard. Subscribe to her Substack The Long Take here.