Jon Favreau Talks About The Lengths He Went to in Keeping THE MANDALORIAN Season 2 Finale a Secret
The season 2 finale of the Disney+ Star Wars series The Mandalorian was a shocking and exciting twist on an already great story. In the episode, titled “The Rescue,” we watched as Mando, Fennec Shand, Boba Fett, and Cara Dune set out to commandeer an Imperial shuttle, nab Dr. Pershing from the clutches of some Imperial officers, and find a way onto the Light Cruiser, where Moff Gideon had Grogu. The whole thing ended with the reveal of Luke freaking Skywalker entering the story, ready to whisk The Child off to a safe place to Jedi-train him, and a heartfelt helmet-free goodbye between Mando and Grogu. Fans went crazy for the finale, and its great storytelling got us even more pumped for the third season.
But it wasn’t an easy feat to pull off! Just like with the Marvel surprises, the show’s writers and directors had to go to great lengths to keep this surprise under wraps. Series creator Jon Favreau recently talked about the process in an interview with Empire Magazine, saying:
“We shot Luke’s scene with a body double. His character was called Plo Koon in the script, he had an alien head in the production art. R2-D2 was painted green. There was a lot of subterfuge. When R2D2 rolls in, that’s when it gets me. He was my Baby Yoda.”
Favreau went on to praise the finale’s director, Peyton Reed (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania), whom he called “a great partner on that episode. We had so much fun revealing things piece by piece. The X-wing, the lightsaber, and then the John Williams score, incredible.” But the best part of making the show so far is that the two biggest surprises didn’t get leaked or spoiled beforehand.
“We had leaks from the show, but Baby Yoda didn’t get spoiled, and Luke didn’t get spoiled. It was like everybody got to open a Christmas present at the same time.”
It’s so cool and rare these days that you don’t hear huge spoilers about the big name movies and shows in the major fandoms before you watch. They obviously have an awesome, and very locked down, crew and set over there at the studio. The Mandalorian season 3 will premiere on Disney+ on Wednesday, March 1st.