The Mandalorian season one came to a close this past weekend. The Mandalorian is Disney’s first of many Star Wars series on Disney’s new streaming service Disney Plus. Disney has an Obi-Wan Series and another untitled Star Wars series in the pipeline.
The Mandalorian stars Pedro Pascal as the lone gunslinger who makes his way through the outer reaches of the galaxy, far from the authority of the New Republic. The show is very much a western-style show that was placed in space, but it’s done very well.
The casting for the show is well done with MMA fighter Gina Carano playing the strong female lead and Carl Weathers of Rocky fame playing the space crime boss. Not to mention a list of other major stars like comedian Bill Burr, ER star Ming-Na Wen, Sons of Anarchy star Mark Boone Junior, Breaking Bad star Giancarlo Esposito, Nick Nolte, Clancy Brown and many others.
The Mandalorian series takes place 5 years after the events of Return of the Jedi and 25 years prior to the events of The Force Awakens. The series follows a Mandalorian bounty hunter beyond the reaches of the New Republic. Where the Mandalorian takes a job to kill someone finding out it’s a baby of Yoda’s species he refuses to kill the baby and instead takes on the role of the child’s bodyguard until he can return him home to wherever that is going forward.
While the show is mostly focused on the Mandalorian going around the galaxy to keep the boy safe and to get credits by doing jobs to keep the two on the move. Every episode has its own spin by adding more story plot, action, and humor to a serious situation as you watch both the relationship between baby Yoda and the Mandalorian grow over the season.
The show has some interesting points with heavy Star Wars references which are a lot of fun. To start with the Mandalorian was kidnapped and trained as a child and never takes off his helmet as no living creature has ever seen his face. Most times I like a lot of character backstory but the way the series is written not knowing the characters back story really adds to the mystery of the character. His unknown backstory turns the story at times in different directions then you expect. Sometimes this loan gunslinger may have enemies and allies, we don’t know about that take the series in a different direction its great.
I really like the series and every week would look forward to another episode. I would have liked more than just a quick 8-episode mini-series, but I am thinking that is the way most of Star Wars shows are going to be on Disney Plus capping out at 8 episodes a season. I know that all Marvel series will only be six episodes each.
The Mandalorian has already been renewed for season two which is slated to be released in the fall of 2020.