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The Mandalorian Came To Fruition Thanks to MCU’s Classic Hero


The Mandalorian showrunners Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni recently shared how they came about the Star Wars series, which turned out to be inspired by a classic MCU hero, Tony Stark/Iron Man.

Recently speaking with Empire Magazine, Favreau and Filoni recalled their first meeting and how the idea for The Mandalorian came about. At the time, Favreau, the creator of the Star Wars series, said that it all began when he went to Skywalker Ranch to do a sound mix for Iron Man where he also happened to cross paths with Filoni, who was preparing to launch The Clone Wars.

“I casually said, ‘Hey, if you ever need somebody to do a voice…’ And then he called me up [to voice] Pre Vizsla [a Mandalorian warrior].”

Upon the debut of Disney+ years later, Favreau pitched The Mandalorian to the Lucasfilm president, Kathleen Kennedy. It was then that the Lucasfilm president decided to pair Favreau with Filoni as they both were coincidentally working on a similar idea for a project and the rest was history.

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It is worth noting that Jon Favreau, who starred and worked on the Iron Man franchise, had a pretty close grip on the MCU hero, as reflected in the lore of The Mandalorian. Both characters wear suits and a helmet, only, in the case of Tony Stark, it was his defense mechanism to protect himself from danger, whereas Din Djarin’s fit is closely tied to his religion, which forbids him from taking it off.

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Filoni, the executive producer of Lucasfilm, eventually realized that Favreau’s good management on the Iron Man franchise is exactly what he needed to make the Star Wars series work:

“I felt instinctively when I saw Iron Man that Jon had a great handle on how Star Wars actually worked." Filoni said, "It was a fun adventure — there were comedic elements, but there was also a lot of heart. That’s something that’s throughout Jon’s work, this feeling of [having] heart.”

The Mandalorian Season 3 is set to hit Disney+ on March 1, 2023.


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