After waiting the better part of a year, after some teaser images, FINALLY we will be getting the first live action Star Wars TV show!!! This week, Disney+ gave us their TRAILER for the new Star Wars series slated to start streaming in November;
THE MANDALORIAN!
After the stories of Jango and Boba Fett, another warrior emerges in the Star Wars universe. “The Mandalorian” is set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order. We follow the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic. - Star Wars
Here's a brief trailer breakdown. #TheMandalorian #StarWars #D23Expo #Mandalorian #theMandalorian
To watch the trailer, click HERE. Ok, here we go.
Right off the bat, let's talk about this soundtrack. The music comes in quiet at first and builds as it hits it's first Crescendo to the Lucas Films logo. From there on out, you can feel the tone of the series. This is going to be a darker, more desperate Star Wars story. This series is set in the time after Return of the Jedi and before The Force Awakens. This is a pivotal point in modern Star Wars history because the galaxy is more or less in a state of chaos as the Empire struggles to maintain control of their territories after the destruction of the second Death Star.
When I started reading about Jon Favreau's Mandalorian, I immediately got excited about the tone and style he was talking about when shooting this new epic. Promised as a Clint Eastwood spaghetti style western set in the Star Wars universe with Oberyn Martell as the main character and supporting cast like Gustavo Fring and Apollo Creed, this may be my new Game of Thrones.
As the epic soundtack builds, the first images we get are of these spiked Stormtrooper helmets. What a visceral scene. Breaking down this shot, we can see exactly how the Empire is treated in the outer reaches of the galaxy. Reminiscent of the scenes after the battle of Endor, these trooper helmets have been displayed as a warning to anyone passing through. This fits in perfectly with what we were told last year about The Mandalorian being centered around a lone gun slinger as he tracks down his bounties.
We get a lot of classic Star Wars imagery. Far from the bright and shiny esthetics of the Prequels, we are back to that classic grimy Rouge One look. There is a new layer of dustiness to add to the western feel. The landscapes have a clear, strong ominous feeling, I almost felt like I was going to see a tumble weed roll through. But not a normal tumble weed, a George Lucas tumble weed Disney can make a toy out of. #toyspoilers. It's clear that much like Rouge One, we are going to get a lot of Stars (vists to other planets) and Wars in this show. Exactly how Star Wars should be. This feels like a new chapter of the Star Wars story and, you know what, I may be more excited about this than Rise of Skywalker.
Death Troopers!
I was stoked to see these guys show up in the trailer. I was under the impression they were an experimental division of specialized troopers that Director Krennic used and they all died on Scarif in Rouge One. I did not realize that other high ranking members of The Empire like Thrawn and Tarkin used Death Trooper Squadrons as well. We know from their article on Wookiepiedia that these are the elite soldiers that the Empire used for espionage, infiltration, and as protective details so it makes a lot of sense that they would use these commandos in the outer reaches as a last ditch effort to maintain order.
IG-88!
The assassin droit IG-88 worked as a Bounty Hunter. We saw him in Empire Strikes back when Darth Vader summoned several Bounty Hunters to his ship, the Executioner, and contracted them to find the Millennium Falcon. IG-88's chief rival was Boba Fett so seeing this throwback really felt like they were trying to connect the original trilogy. The only thing is, this is not IG-88. It looks an awful lot like him but director John Favreau has directly stated this is not the droid we are looking for. Even after leaked photos of Tiaka Watiti in a sound booth next to this mystery droid were thought to be a confirmation the multi talented director would be bringing this legacy character to life, we learned from Faveau in this comicbook.com article this droids name is IG-11.
The Mandalorian
The design evolution of Mandalorian Armor and Helmets from The Clone Wars and Pre Vizsla's Death Watch (Voiced by Favreau) to Jango and Boba Fett to this latest iteration is amazing. The way they took semi greco-roman spartan-esk helmets and intertwined the design into a functional design that feels right at home in the Star Wars Universe is perfect and this new helmet knocked it out of the park.
This latest edition in the Star Wars story feels great. The trailer delivered on the promise of a western set in space and feels really grounded. They have a slew of talent behind this series and a budget of upwards of $10 million dollars an episode so I think we are in for a treat that honestly, all of us Star Wars Nerds need after the last few movies.
Nate Johnson is a graphic designer and comic enthusiast. He met ComicTom and the ComicTom101 team when he offered a different kind of Comic Karma in the way of a new website (read that story here). He works on the ComicTom101 website, manages it, as well anything else online that has to do with the brand. You can learn more about Nate on his website at www.natemadeit.com or you can follow him on instagram @nthnjohnson.