Robert Rodriguez dipped his toes into a galaxy far, far away for the latest episode of The Mandalorian and had a blast doing it. The Sin City and Alita: Battle Angel director helmed the latest episode, The Tragedy, which provided fans with a whole lot to process. It turns out the episode wasn't just fun for viewers as the filmmaker says the experience exceeded his expectations.
Warning: spoilers ahead for the latest episode of The Mandalorian. Robert Rodriguez is currently promoting his new movie, We Can Be Heroes, which takes place in the same universe as Sharkboy and Lavagirl. During a recent interview, he was asked about directing the episode, which featured the triumphant return of Boba Fett to the Star Wars universe. Here's what Rodriguez had to say about it.
"I'm friends with Jon Favreau and he needed a last-minute replacement for a director. And so I said, 'Sure, I'll come play in the Star Wars universe!' What a dream. And it's fulfilled all my... it's beyond my expectations, I mean, it was SO fun, you can't imagine what it's like to walk on a set that has the classic look of The Empire Strikes Back feel and look. It's right after that era, right after the Return of the Jedi. It's that era. So you really feel like you just walked into your childhood. All of a sudden you go up and touch things and go, 'That's the thing that Han Solo talked into when he shot the machine and told the stormtroopers not to come up'. I was like, 'Wow, I thought I recognised that!' It's just a really strange, exhilarating experience to be in your childhood sets for real. And getting to make action! It's really cool... The visual language is so embedded in our heads. So I have one of those [selfies] 'Look, it's me next to a control panel, isn't that cool?'. It was so fun."
Interestingly, someone had to drop out, it seems, which paved the way for Robert Rodriguez to come in and do his thing. In the end, it worked out. Mando and Baby Yoda went on an action-packed adventure to the Seeing Stone, which resulted in Boba Fett getting his armor back, and putting it to good use, while Moff Gideon got his hands on Grogu. It teed up the ball for an epic couple of episodes to round out season 2.
Another fun connection is that Robert Rodriguez got to work with Pedro Pascal for a second time. Pascal, who plays Mando, also worked on We Can Be Heroes. The two ended up having a bit of a surprise re-connection on set.
"I actually filmed this movie before I worked with him on Mandalorian. So I was surprised to go to the set, 'Hey, you're here too!' So it's fun working with him. He was terrific in the movie, fun to work with."
The Mandalorian season 3 is already in the works, with filming expected to begin by the end of the year. The Disney+ series has proved to be a huge hit and is in many ways paving the way for the future of Star Wars. The show returns with a new episode of Friday, December 11. This news comes to us via