‘The Art of the Mandalorian’ book previews reveal what might have been

The Mandalorian receives the most praise for its unconventionally innovative narrative structure, but there’s no denying that Jon Favreau’s Star Wars show is also visually breathtaking.

The Art of Star Wars: The Mandalorian (Season Two) is an upcoming art book that gives us a behind-the-scenes peek at how Lucasfilm artists bring this world to life. More specifically, this will be an opportunity to not only see the work that goes into designing these set pieces, but also note how many initial ideas or concepts didn’t make it to the final production phase.

From preview images released by Abrams Books (courtesy of ComicBook.com), we see Plo Koon attempting to make his way into Moff Gideon’s ship. Plo was devised as a placeholder for Luke as a measure taken by the producers to avoid spoilers, but ended up working brilliantly for the series while preserving the surprise.

There’s even one image that depicts Din Djarin wielding the Darksaber and preparing to go toe-to-toe with the Jedi Master. Grogu and Ahsoka also make an appearance, though not in scenes that would be of any particular interest. Check them out for yourself below.

Combining newly-introduced rendering technologies, such as using LED displays as green screens, and using Unreal Engine to render backgrounds for live-action, with as many practical effects as are technically viable, Lucasfilm manages to create a truly visceral world for the Disney Plus series.

As praiseworthy as these technical achievements are, though, the creative process starts with the concept artists who sketch out everything from scratch. And whether it’s background scenery or props comprising a scene, it’s their vision that ultimately gets translated to the screen.