The Mandalorian series is a franchise of Star Wars. It is the first live-action series in the Star Wars franchise. The genre of the series includes action and adventure, which takes the audience on a thrill ride. It is an American television series that was created as a part of the Star Wars universe.
The story of this series revolves around a hunter, who is also known as “The Mandalorian.” He takes care of a child, popularly known as “Baby Yoda.” He takes on dangerous missions in the universe and, at the same time, protects the child. The term “Mandalorian” is used to describe people from a planet called “Mandalore” in the Star Wars universe.
The creator of this series is Jon Favreau. He is the director as well as the writer of the series. It was originally developed by the Star Wars creator, George Lucas, in 2009. But he thought that it was too expensive to produce this series. Later, he sold his company, Lucasfilm, to Disney in 2012. So, Disney+ started working on the television series.
The lead actors of “The Mandalorian” are Pedro Pascal, Katee Sackhoff, Carl Weathers, etc. For now, the show has three seasons. The show premiered on Disney+ on November 12, 2019. The second season premiered on October 30, 2020. The third season premiered on March 1, 2023.
Also read: How to Watch The Mandalorian Season 3 Episodes? Streaming Guide
Some interesting facts about the series are:
1. Baby Yoda, shown in the series, is a puppet.
Baby Yoda or Grogu, shown in the series, is not entirely created using CGI. It is a puppet. The crew used a puppet, which was controlled by two technicians. One person was in charge of the eyes and mouth, while the other was in charge of the puppet’s ears.
CGI was used only in a few scenes. The character’s voice was created by mixing adult and infant sounds. The voice recordings also consisted of the sounds of animals, such as the bat-eared fox and kinkajou.
2. The creator of the show contacted a local fan club for extra costumes after they ran out of costumes.
In 2019, when the crew was filming the first season of the series, there was a shortage of the Storm Trooper costumes on the set. The crew underestimated the count of the costumes, which caused the problem. So the creators, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, reached out to the 501st Legion, a local fan club.
It is a Star Wars fan organization and has almost 13,000 members. When the crew asked for the help of the fans, many of them showed up on the set with their costumes. They came with their Storm Trooper costumes. These fans filled up the spots of the soldiers and helped in filming the seven and eighth episodes of the series’ first season.
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3. The crew made use of enormous virtual sets rather than green screens.
The episodes of the series were filmed using virtual sets instead of green screens. The crew made use of the latest technology, StageCraft, developed by ILM. It helps the actors visualize the scene as the visuals are shown on the screen.
The actors do not need to use their imagination to piece together what is happening because the effects seem so real. This technology was also used in the latest Star Wars film. It was used in the hyperspace sequences.
While filming season one, it even became a very popular set to be visited. Many directors, such as Steven Spielberg, the Coen brothers, and Seth Rogen, visited the set and were astounded by the virtual set technology.
4. The Baby Yoda puppet costs $5 million.
The animatronic Baby Yoda puppet used in the series became very famous after it aired. It is one of the most celebrated characters around the world. The puppet cost around $5 million. The creator, Jon Favreau, made sure that everyone on the set knew the cost of the puppet so that they would handle it delicately.
Adam Pally had to hit the Baby Yoda puppet in a scene. He hit it too hard, and Jon Favreau told him about the price of the puppet and asked him to be careful. The actor even joked that Baby Yoda is a kind of diva.
Also read: Why Has The Mandalorian Season 3 Delayed To 2022?
5. The budget for season one was $100 million.
The series’ first season had a budget of roughly $100 million. Season one had eight episodes. Each episode has a duration of 30 minutes. This indicates that the makers spent around $13 million for each episode. When a series is taken into account, the budget is extremely high.
The series used cutting-edge technology and was shot like a feature film. The series also featured many stars. As a result, the budget of the series was unusually high in comparison with any other series.
Also read: Where is The Mandalorian Season 1 Filmed? All About the Sets
6. Pedro Pascal used two stunt doubles.
Pedro Pascal is one of the most notable actors in the series. The audience cannot see his face, but Pedro nailed the character of Din Djarin. Even though the audience cannot see his face, he delivered his expressions and feelings well in the series.
As we all know, Pedro Pascal is a very busy actor. Due to this reason, the crew used two stunt doubles. The other actors are Brendan Wayne, who is the grandson of the legendary John Wayne, and Lateef Crowder. These stuntmen were under the helmet a few times. Pedro did not appear in chapter four. Pedro recorded his voiceover for the episode later.
7. Werner Herzog loved the baby Yoda puppet.
Werner Herzog, one of the great directors of all time, appears in The Mandalorian series. He had a scene with Baby Yoda in the series. When the crew removed the puppet to use CGI, Herzog asked them not to take it away.
He was obsessed with the puppet and did not want it to be removed. He is the reason why the puppet was not removed from the scene. In an interview, he even admitted that the puppet caused him to cry while filming. He even forgot that it was a prop.
8. Ming-Na Wen completed the Disney hat trick with her character in The Mandalorian.
Ming-Na Wen played the role of Fennec Shand in the series. She performed the Disney hat trick by taking on three different Disney roles. A Disney Princess named Mulan, a Marvel superhero named Agent Melinda May, and a Star Wars character are the roles she played.
She is the only actor to act in this trifecta. She even shared this information on her Instagram account. She is a fan of the Star Wars franchise.
9. Werner Herzog had never seen a Star Wars movie.
Werner Herzog revealed that he had never seen a Star Wars film before playing the role of The Client. The 80-year-old actor said that it was not necessary to know about the Star Wars universe to play the role. He mentioned that it would not affect his character in the series. He also stated that he rarely watches movies. He did not have any issues with the films, but he was not an avid film watcher.
10. Dallas Howard wanted to keep Baby Yoda hidden until the series premiered.
Bryce Dallas Howard is one of the directors of the series. The crew wanted to keep Baby Yoda a secret until the series premiered. She insisted that the entire cast keep Baby Yoda hidden. However, she mentioned that the most potent source of the leak was the kids on set.
The kids also include the children of Howard. She talked to every kid on set and asked them to keep it a secret. She prevented the children from spilling the beans about Baby Yoda. She mentioned in one of the interviews that she used to have a conversation with her kids every morning before they went to school.
She used to say, ‘Who do we not talk about today?’ and the kids would reply, ‘Baby!’. The crew did not even produce any Baby Yoda merchandise to keep it a secret. Due to this, even after Baby Yoda became an internet sensation, there was no official merchandise available.
Also read: Bryce Dallas Howard’s Best Movies That You Should Know About.
11. When it was released, this series was the most illegally downloaded production of the year.
Disney+, the streaming platform for the series, was initially accessible only in a few countries. In countries where Disney+ is not available, there is no other way to watch it except by using illegal sites. So the show was the most illegally downloaded production in the year it premiered.
12. Pedro Pascal was injured on the set and was rushed to the hospital.
Pedro Pascal had a scene in which Mando had to take off his helmet. During the filming of this scene, Pascal cuts his nose while walking out of the makeup room. He was reading his script and ran into a piece of plywood.
He was rushed to the hospital after the injury and got seven stitches in his nose. After coming back, he started filming the scene with fake blood all around his injury. He was in pretty bad shape, as was his character, Din Djarin. The accident helped him make the scene look natural and realistic.
Also read: The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 1 Review: May Not Fulfill Your Expectations.
13. Pedro Pascal initially thought he was going to play Boba Fett.
Jon Favreau, the creator of the series, met Pascal and explained his story to him his role. Pascal came out of the meeting thinking that he was going to play the role of Boba Fett. A similar incident also happened with Gina Carano. She played the role of Cara Dune in the series. She originally thought that she would be playing a female Wookie.
Also read: Why Was Gina Carano Fired From The Mandalorian? Reason Behind It
14. Dave Filoni saw a fan-made image of Dawson as Ahsoka and contacted her to play the role.
Rosario Dawson played the role of Ahsoka Tano in The Mandalorian. Many Star Wars fans wanted Dawson to play Ahsoka. One of the fans even approached Dawson and asked her to play the role of Ahsoka. She replied that even she was interested in playing that role.
Later, the producer of the series, Dave Filoni, saw a fan-made image of Dawson as Ahsoka on Twitter. He thought she would be perfect for the role and contacted her. Dawson expressed her interest in playing the role and was officially cast as Ahsoka.
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15. While filming season one, a major piece of camera equipment was stolen.
The Manhattan Beach Studios served as the location for season one’s filming. Filming for Season 1 began in 2018. A significant piece of camera equipment vanished while being used for filming in the studios. All the spoilers and information are on a memory card that was included in the device.
The creators feared that spoilers would be made public. An official inquiry was launched following the submission of a theft report. There was no additional information made public about this incident. The representative said she would not comment on the matter.
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16. Troy Kotsur helped in developing the Tusken language.
Troy Kotsur, a famous actor and an Academy Award winner, played a major role in developing the Tusken sign language. This language is used by the Tusken Raiders of Tatooine in the series. Troy Kotsur was born deaf and knows sign language pretty well.
He helped in developing the sign language for the series. He was a sign language consultant for the series. He was also cast as a Tusken Raider scout in episode five of season one.
17. The critics did not get a chance to watch the first episode of the series.
The critics were not allowed to watch the show until it premiered on Disney+. Many people thought that it was a move made by the studios due to a lack of confidence. But the original reason was to prevent the twist from getting out.
It has nothing to do with the show’s caliber or a lack of faith. After its release, the episode was praised by everyone. Later, the studios conducted a special screening of the next two episodes for the critics.
18. Donald Glover inspired Jon Favreau to keep Baby Yoda a secret.
Donald Glover provided the voice of Simba in The Lion King. While filming the movie, Glover told Jon Favreau that audiences like surprises and that a surprise tends to go viral. He added that audiences like surprises because they do not get them often. Inspired by this, Jon decided to keep Baby Yoda a secret until the pilot episode premiered.
19. Mando’s pistol is a replica of Bergmann’s 1894 pistol.
Din Djarin, a character in the series, uses a blaster pistol. This pistol is used in various episodes of the series. Bergmann’s design from 1894 inspired the pistol.
This semi-automatic pistol, which is made using German design, belongs to the 19th century. It is very rare to find a real Bergmann pistol. So it is assumed that the prop used is a replica of the pistol.
Several changes have been made to the original design. The modifications include a muzzle device, new iron sights, a modified grip, a modified hammer, and several other changes. The circular grasping handle was also removed.
Also read: The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 5: Release Date, Spoilers & Streaming Guide.
20. Baby Yoda is 50 years old.
Despite calling him Baby Yoda, he is not a child. Throughout the series, Grogu, also known as Baby Yoda, is referred to as “The Child.” Yoda, a famous character from Star Wars, was 500 years old when he died in “Return of the Jedi.”
So this confirms that these species age very slowly. So, in the Star Wars universe, Baby Yoda, who appears to be a cute little child, is 50 years old at the start of The Mandalorian. The name Baby Yoda was also given by the fans.
Also read: Star Wars: How Old Is Yoda? From The Time He Died & More From The Mandalorian
21. The Mando character was inspired by Clint Eastwood.
The character of Din Djarin, who is also known as Mando, has almost no identity. He is quite similar to Clint Eastwood’s “Man with No Name.” Clint Eastwood is a famous character in the Spaghetti Western Dollars Trilogy by Sergio Leone.
Jon Favreau created the character of Mando, partially inspired by Clint Eastwood. In one of the interviews, Pedro Pascal described the character of Mando as having a lot of Clint Eastwood in him.
22. Deborah Chow is the first woman to direct a live-action Star Wars story.
Deborah Chow worked on shows like Mr. Robot, Fear the Walking Dead, etc. She directed the three and seven episodes of Season 1 of The Mandalorian. She is the first female director to work on a Star Wars franchise. Later, Bryce Dallas Howard directed episode 4 of season 1. She is also the director of the new Star Wars series called Obi-Wan Kenobi, starring Ewan McGregor.
Also read: The Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 8 Release Date and Time; Watch Online!
23. Mark Hamill has a voice cameo in the series.
Mark Hamill is a well-known actor who portrayed the role of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars films. He was also part of the Mandalorian series. He made a voice cameo in one of the episodes of Season 1.
Hamill voiced the droid bartender EV-9D9, who works at the Mos Eisley Cantina in episode 5. The same type of droid is used in “Return of the Jedi,” where R2-D2 and C-3PO are given jobs after being captured.
24. Different versions of Baby Yoda were considered for the series.
The VFX supervisor, Richard Bluff, created several versions of Baby Yoda. He said that they had two versions. The final version is the animatronic version, which is one of them. They also created different varieties of characters using art.
Jon Favreau mentioned that sketches of Baby Yoda were made. He said some of the designs were ugly, and some were sad. The final Baby Yoda that we see took around 3 months to complete.
Also read: The Mandalorian Season 4: Release Date, Production & Renewal Status.
25. Mando’s Pulse Blaster was inspired by the “Star Wars Holiday Special.”
The Pulse Blaster is Mando’s signature weapon. Mando uses this weapon to electrocute his opponents. It is also known as the Amban sniper rifle. The rifle was built off of an AKM receiver. The actual rifle used is a prop.
It is first seen in the animated section of the Star Wars Holiday Special. The makers of the series were inspired to add the rifle to the series after watching Boba Fett wield it in the animated section.
Also read: Will The Mandalorian Return in ‘The Book of Boba Fett’ Episode 5?
