It’s hard to overstate how important The Mandalorian has been for the Mouse House. It was the crown jewel in the Disney Plus launch lineup, with fans and audiences quickly recognizing that it was top tier television. But it should also be remembered that as the first season played out, the studio’s stewardship of Star Wars was on shaky ground.
Disney was still smarting from the controversies surrounding The Last Jedi, had embarrassed themselves with the high-profile flop of Solo: A Star Wars Story, and we were discovering to our horror that the much-hyped Rise of Skywalker was terrible. But The Mandalorian smoothed all that over and proved that the Mouse House can bring the goods (when studio execs aren’t interfering).
So, just how popular is it? Well, a poll by Looper asked subscribers which shows leaving Disney Plus would cause them to get rid of their accounts. The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers and High School Musical: The Series were mentioned by many, but the clear leader by some way was Pedro Pascal’s bounty hunting adventures, with roughly 50% of respondents claiming they’d unsubscribe to the service if The Mandalorian was cancelled.
That’s obviously good news for Lucasfilm and Disney, though they’re clearly aware that they need to diversify so all their eggs aren’t in one basket. As such, we’ll see The Book of Boba Fett later this year, continuing Fett and Fennec Shand’s stories after The Mandalorian‘s second season finale.
Also coming soon is Ahsoka, building upon Rosario Dawson’s head-turning appearance in Mando’s series. We were going to get Rangers of the New Republic as well, conceived as a vehicle for Gina Carano’s Cara Dune, but it’s no longer in active development because… well, you know.
Though further big screen adventures in a galaxy far, far away are in the works, The Mandalorian will be the flagship Star Wars project for some time yet. Let’s hope we get confirmation of when the third season will drop soon.
Published: Jun 15, 2021 10:08 am