If Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, who have brought us the already loved show The Mandalorian decide to stay on and take the Star Wars franchise forward it seems as though signs reading “In Jon and Dave We Trust” could eventually start popping up on social media and even become a popular saying since at this point the two of them get the process and the feel of the franchise better than anyone who isn’t named George Lucas have in a long while. As of now The Mandalorian has that gritty texture to it that’s not perfect but definitely not somehow dulled and dumbed down so that people just coming into the franchise can take the baby steps to understand at least a portion of what’s happening. This story is the type that if a person doesn’t know what’s going on then it’s up to them to check it out and read up on the histories to see if they can finally get up to speed. As Ryan Scott of MovieWeb states it might happen with or without Kathleen Kennedy since her contract is up in 2021 and there are a lot of people hoping that she doesn’t decide to sign up again.
It’s not just the feminist agenda that’s been affixed to Star Wars at this point that’s driving some people nuts, it’s the idea that Kathleen knows what she’s doing and doesn’t care since she wants the franchise to be more ‘woke’ and diverse than it’s ever been. That’s fine, diversity is great, adding more women is a big bonus, and turning them into hardened fighters and survivors is even better. But making the men look like goofballs and basically emasculating a good number of them whenever the chance presents itself has led to a great deal of fan discontent and has seemingly caused turmoil behind the scenes as well. Since he’s been under the Disney umbrella Jon has been doing his absolute best and he’s been turning out movies that have been nothing less than awesome since Iron Man kind of started the MCU and his other movies, The Lion King and The Jungle Book might not have been quite as big of hits but they were still impressive since they continued to push the whole live action lean and continued to be something that people wanted to see. Jon seems to get what the fans want to see and as a writer he’s pegged the Star Wars universe in a big way with The Mandalorian since we’ve seen some truly iconic images thus far and some species that are mentioned in the books and comics but haven’t made it past the animation phase until now. Sandra Gonzalez of CNN has more to say on this subject.
Plus, the hard-edged life of a Mandalorian bounty hunter is showcased in a big way, but the story has also shown that he’s fallible and that the Mando culture is basically on the rocks, consisting of scattered clans and groups that stick together due to pride in who they are and where they come from. The Mandalorian culture in Star Wars is one in which pride and honor take great precedence considering that this is all they have at times. Despite this however they are fierce warriors that have gained a well-deserved reputation throughout the galaxy thanks to history and to those among them like the hunter that have been proven to be exceedingly tough and highly resourceful. The story itself so far is great because it paints the Mando as someone that’s not to be trifled with, but is still prone to being ganged up on since he doesn’t have any quit in him and he’s not the type to simply give up and bargain. Jon and Dave have taken an existing universe and made a story that pulls from the universe a lot of different qualities that have existed since the first trilogy and, believe it or not, are present in the current movies but still come off as kind of muted since the overall feeling of The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi is really more of a desperate need to be liked and respected than the down and dirty feeling of ‘this is what’s there, take it or leave it’. That sounds awful in a way but it also sounds accurate since that’s the life of a bounty hunter in the Star Wars universe, and thus far this story is increasingly accurate in many ways. Meredith Jacobs of TV Insider has her own take on this show.
Moving on from The Mandalorian though it’s a big hope that Jon and Dave will take a bigger role and usher in a new and promising future for the Star Wars franchise and hopefully even bring it back from the brink that it seems to be sailing towards. With or without Kathleen Kennedy, this needs to happen since Jon and Dave just seem to get what the franchise needs.
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