'The Mandalorian' Season 3 Will (Probably) Start Filming This Year

The Mandalorian season 2 isn't even out yet, but Jon Favreau isn't wasting any time. The Star Wars TV series creator says that if all goes according to plan, The Mandalorian season 3 filming should commence before the end of 2020. Unlike many other shows, The Mandalorian's StageCraft technology – a gigantic digital video screen that allows filmmakers to "capture a significant amount of complex visual effects shots in-camera using real-time game engine technology and LED screens to represent dynamic photo-real digital landscapes and sets with creative flexibility previously unimaginable" – keeps it a relatively small affair, production-wise. This will no doubt help the show avoid running into problems with potential COVID-19 scenarios.

While speaking with Variety, Jon Favreau, creator of The Mandalorian, revealed that season 3 of the hit Disney+ would probably start shooting before the end of this year. "We're operating under the assumption that we'll be able to go forward," Favreau said, adding: "We're in very small situations and oftentimes we have a lot of characters in masks. And we also have a lot of digital work that augments things. So we're a show that's probably well-equipped to be flexible based on the protocols that are emerging surrounding work restarting."

While other movie and TV productions are having to find ways to work around the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, The Mandalorian employs ILM's StageCraft technology, which puts it in a unique position. As ILM explains:

Over 50 percent of The Mandalorian Season One was filmed using this ground-breaking new methodology, eliminating the need for location shoots entirely. Instead, actors in The Mandalorian performed in an immersive and massive 20' high by 270-degree semicircular LED video wall and ceiling with a 75'-diameter performance space, where the practical set pieces were combined with digital extensions on the screens. Digital 3D environments created by ILM played back interactively on the LED walls, edited in real-time during the shoot...

Elsewhere in the same interview, Favreau was asked if there will ever be a Mandalorian movie. Favreau said he's in "no rush" to do so, but also added that he was "definitely open to it, and excited to see where the story leads us and have that flexibility — because there's no rulebook now." In other words, to quote The Simpsons, Short answer: Yes, with an "if." Long answer: No, with a "but."

The Mandalorian season 2 will see "The Mandalorian and the Child continue their journey, facing enemies and rallying allies as they make their way through a dangerous galaxy in the tumultuous era after the collapse of the Galactic Empire." Look for it on Disney+ October 30.