Tag Archives: Jon Favreau

Disney+ to Launch Season 3 of Pedro Pascal’s “The Mandalorian” in March 2023

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Pedro Pascal is returning to space soon…

Disney+ has announced the return of 47-year-old Chilean actor’s The Mandalorian for Season 3 on March 1, 2023.

Pedro Pascal as The MandalorianWhile the last episode of season 2 was in late December 2020 of The Mandalorian, Pascal’s title character appeared in a few episodes during the arc of the spinoff series, The Book of Boba Fett.

The Mandalorian season 3 will pick up right after Book of Boba Fett, with Din Djarin (Pascal) heading back to his home planet of Mandalore to restore his reputation as a Mandaloian again.

A teaser unveiled in the fall showed him fighting armed warriors on Mandalore.

Carl Weathers (bounty hunter leader Greef Karga), Giancarlo Esposito (bad guy Moff Gideon) and Katee Sackhoff (Mandalorian Bo-Katen Kryze) are returning, with Christopher Lloyd joining season 3.

Jon Favreau created Mandalorian and is the head scribe and EP this season.

Pedro Pascal Signs with Creative Artists Agency (CAA)

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Pedro Pascal has new representation…

The 47-year-old Chilean actor and star of Disney+’s The Mandalorian is heading to Creative Artists Agency (CAA).

Pedro PascalPascal was previously with WME. He was repped by Brandon Liebman, who recently left WME for UTA.

The move comes as Pascal is seeing his star on the rise, having played the title character in the Star Wars series from Jon Favreau, and its sister series The Book of Boba Fett, as well as The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent alongside Nicolas Cage.

He starred as Javier Peña in Netflix’s Narcos as well as Oberyn Martell in the fourth season of HBO’s Game of Thrones. His other film credits include Wonder Woman 1984, Judd Apatow’s The Bubble, Triple Froniter and Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

Next up, he’s playing the lead in HBO’s The Last of Us, an adaptation of the hit video game from Chernobyl’s Craig Mazin, and he is set to headline true-crime limited series My Dentist’s Murder Trial alongside David Harbour, which is in the works at HBO, from Steve Conrad, based on a New Yorker article.

Robert Rodriguez Teams Up with Baby Yoda for Holiday Jam Session

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Robert Rodriguez has delivered fans of The Mandalorian (and Baby Yoda) the ultimate Christmas gift…

The 52-year-old Mexican American filmmaker and director, and The Book of Boba Fett executive producer joined the Child (a.k.a. Grogu) for a holiday jam session.

Robert Rodriguez

Rodriguez, who also directed Alita: Battle Angel and Netflix’s We Can Be Heroes, tweeted a video on Christmas Eve that served as an early holiday present to fans asking what it’s like to be on set with the beloved creature at the center of Jon Favreau’s Star Wars spin-off. Strumming the chords of his guitar, Rodriguez joined the child for a short performance.

In the video Rodriguez strums out an excerpt of a snazzy number while the Child nods his head, smiles and coos to the beat.

Rodriguez directed Chapter 14, titled The Tragedy, of the Disney+ series which stars Pedro Pascal in the titular role. The Mandalorian rounded off its second season a week before Christmas with a buzzy finale that had Star Wars fans celebrating the return of familiar faces.

The final episode of The Mandalorian season two saw The Child join Luke Skywalker (a CGI’ed version of Mark Hamill) and R2-D2 to train in the ways of the Jedi.

Disney+ Announces “The Mandalorian” Spinoff Series “Ahsoka Tano,” Starring Rosario Dawson

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Rosario Dawson is extending her Star Wars run…

The Mandalorian spinoff series Ahsoka Tano is in the works from Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, based on the famed Clone Wars cartoon character brought to life by the 41-year-old Puerto Rican and Cuban American actress this past season on the second season of the Disney+ series.

Ahsoka Tano x Rosario Dawson

Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy announced the spinoff news during Disney Investor Day.

No footage was shared for the series from Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, but the show’s official logo was revealed.

The series, starring Dawson, is set within the timeline of The Mandalorian.

As for what Ahsoka Tano’s arc may be in the series, that remains to be seen. When she made her debut on The Mandalorian, she told Din Djarin she would not train Grogu in the ways of a Jedi.

Ahsoka’s timeline in the post-Return of the Jedi era is unknown, so this series will presumably fill out those details and potentially give Star Wars new territory to play with during the time between and during the events of the new trilogy movies.

Disney+ Releases Sneak Peek at Season Two of Pedro Pascal’s “The Mandalorian”

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Pedro Pascal is ready to blast off…

Disney+ offered a special sneak peek at season two of The Mandalorian, starring the 45-year-old Chilean actor as the title character, during ESPN’s Monday Night Football.

Pedro Pascal as The Mandalorian

The spot, which aired during halftime of the game between the Arizona Cardinals and the Dallas Cowboys, reveals a bit more detail of the plot for the new season, with The Mandalorian (Pascal) now seemingly on a mission to return The Child (aka Baby Yoda) “to his kind” while also searching out other Mandalorians who can help him.

“Wherever I go, he goes,” Mando says about his charge.

The upcoming season follows the successful Season 1 of the first live-action Star Wars spinoff series, which scored 15 Emmy nominations including for Outstanding Drama Series, and won seven. Shooting had already wrapped on the second season before the coronavirus-related production shutdown in mid-March. Work is already underway on Season 3.

The new season of the Lucasfilm-produced returns Pascal as The Mandalorian, aka Din Djarin, and The Child who continue to attempt to evade ruthless Imperial Remnant officer Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito). Gina Carano and Carl Weathers also return from Season 1, with cast newcomers including Rosario Dawson (reportedly as Ahsoka Tano), Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett, Katee Sackhoff, Michael Biehn and Timothy Olyphant among others.

Directors for the new season include Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rick Famuyiwa, Weathers, Peyton Reed and Robert Rodriguez.

Season 2 of the series will debut on Disney’s streaming platform next Friday, October 30.

The Kid Mero to Join Larry Wilmore for Discussion About 2016 & 2020 US Presidential Elections

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The Kid Mero is talkin’ politics… then and now.

The 37-year-old Dominican American television personality, writer and comedian will join Larry Willmore to discuss the U.S. presidential election.

The Kid Mero

Willmore and Kid Mero, whose real name is Joel Martinez, will be joined by Robin Thede, Desus and co-hosts of Pod Save America Jon Lovett and Jon Favreau.

The Peacock late-night comedy, which airs on Friday evenings, will tackle the topic of ‘But Her Emails’, comparing where we are three weeks before this election to where we were three weeks before the 2016 election and drawing lessons.

Thede is the creator, showrunner, executive producer, writer and star of HBO’s A Black Lady Sketch Show. She was also the first African American woman to be the head writer of a late-night show when she worked on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, before becoming a host of The Rundown with Robin Thede.

Desus Nice and Kid Mero are the stars of the eponymous Showtime series, which airs twice a week.

They’ll join Wilmore for his lightning round this week, following the launch of their New York Times best-selling book God-Level Knowledge Darts – Life Lessons From The Bronx.

Lovett and Favreau are co-hosts of political podcast Pod Save America and co-founder of Crooked Media, the media company behind it. They’ve also recently launched Vote Save America, a one-stop-shop for voter engagement, which helps people get educated and activated ahead of the election.

Wilmore is going into his fifth show since launching on the streamer.

Adam Valdez to Receive One of Variety’s Artisan Awards

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Adam Valdez is a true artisan…

The Latino Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor will be one of the honorees at Variety’s sixth annual Artisans Awards, which celebrates those essential to the filmmaking process and who’ve exhibited the most exciting and innovative work of the year in their respective fields.

Adam Valdez

Valdezis being recognized for his work on Disney’s The Lion King, directed by Jon Favreau. Valdez, along with Rob Legato, serves as the film’s visual effect supervisor. 

Previously, he has worked on the The Lord of the Rings trilogy. And he nabbed an Oscar for his work on Jungle Book, also directed by Favreau.

The tribute evening will take place during the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Sunday, January 19 at the Lobero Theatreand will be moderated by Variety’s senior VP and awards editor, Tim Grayand Variety’s artisan editor Jazz Tangcay.

The 35th Santa Barbara International Film Festival runs from January 15 through January 25.

Morena Baccarin to Star in the Nourish Thriller “Tropico”

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Morena Baccarin is hittin’ the tropics…

The 40-year-old Brazilian actress is set to star in director Giada Colagrande’s Tropico, a noirish thriller set in Brazil.

Morena Baccarin

Baccarin will star opposite Pedro Pascal and Willem Dafoein the film, from a screenplay by Barry Gifford.

In Tropico, Dafoe plays Raymond Sanz, a veteran operative hired to spy on Mark, an American businessman (Pascal) in a steamy costal town in Northern Brazil. However, things get more complicated when Sanz falls simultaneously for Mark’s wife, the mysterious and beautiful Lucia (Baccarin), and her equally beautiful identical twin sister, Olivia (Baccarin).

“Barry’s atmospheric screenplay is an exotic thriller in the best traditions of the noir genre,” said Colagrande, “and I also couldn’t be more excited to work with such an accomplished group of actors.”

Eclipse Pictureshas acquired the worldwide sales rights to Tropico.

Colagrande previously directed Padre and her debut film Open My Heart played at Venice Film Festivalin 2002.

Production on the film is due to start in the first quarter of 2020 in São Luis Do Maranhão, Northern Brazil.

In addition to her regular roles on the iconic series Homeland and Gotham, Baccarin has two Deadpool blockbusters under her belt and next stars opposite Gerard Butlerin Greenland forSTX Filmsand opposite Charlie Hunnam and Mel Gibsonin Waldo.

Pascal, who starred on television in Game of Thrones and Narcos and appeared in the Equalizer 2 film, will next be seen in the Robert Rodriguez-directed We Can Be Heroes, and opposite Gal Gadotin the sequel Wonder Woman 1984. He also stars in the title role of Jon Favreau’s upcoming Star Wars spinoff, The Mandalorian.

Pedro Pascal to Star in Disney+’s Live-Action Star Wars Series “The Mandalorian”

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May the Force be with Pedro Pascal…

The 43-year-old Chilean actor is joining the Jedi universe, portraying the title character in The Mandalorian, the live-action Star Wars series that will be a flagship program for Disney+, the ambitious streaming service launching in 2019.

Pedro Pascal

Pascal is in final negotiations to star in the series, which chronicles the lone-wolf odyssey of a character who hails from the planet Mandalore, which Star Wars fans know as the homeworld of the notorious bounty hunter Boba Fett and Jango Fett.

Pascal memorably portrayed the passionate warrior Oberyn Martell, aka the Red Viper, on the fourth season of the HBO series Game of Thrones. He also played DEA agent Javier Peña on three seasons of Narcos, when the Netflix series centered on the cocaine cartels of Colombia. Pascal also played Agent Whiskey in the Foxfeature film Kingsmen: The Golden Circle in 2017.

The Mandalorian is written and executive produced by Jon Favreau, the director of Jungle Book, Iron Man as well as the upcoming reinterpretation of The Lion King. Favreau’s official description of the show: “After the stories of Jango and Boba Fett, another warrior emerges in the Star Wars universe. The Mandalorian is set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order. We follow the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic.”

The events depicted in the series are set after the events of Return of the Jedi, which concluded with the fiery funeral of Darth Vader on the forest moon of Endor.

The first episode of the series will be directed by Dave Filoni (Star Wars: The Clone Wars). Also on board to direct early episodes are Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok), Rick Famuyiwa (Dope), Deborah Chow (Jessica Jones) and actress Bryce Dallas Howard, whose previous directorial work has been limited to short films.

MTV Renews Baquero’s “The Shannara Chronicles” for a Second Season

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Ivana Baquero will have more to chronicle in the near future…

MTV has ordered a second season of The Shannara Chronicles, starring the 21-year-old Spanish actress.

Ivana Baquero

An adaptation of the international best-selling fantasy novels by Terry Brooks, the fantasy series hails from Smallville and Into the Badlands creators Al Gough and Miles Millar and Iron Man and Jungle Book director Jon Favreau.

It had a modestly-rated premiere run on linear television but did well in young demos, delayed and multi-platform viewing as well as on social media.

The series averaged a 0.98 L+3 rating in MTV’s core P12-34 demo, ranking as MTV’s top-rated new series this year.

Shannara also saw the highest average L+7 lift (+106%) for a freshman series in MTV history. A strong digital performer, the series pulled in 16.6 million streams across all MTV’s digital properties and ranks as the highest grossing digital download for a single season on MTV ever.

The Shannara Chronicles follows a trio of heroes who’ve embarked on a quest to stop a demon army bent on destroying humanity’s world. It stars Poppy Drayton as Amberle, an Elvin Princess; Baquero as Eretria, a Human Rover; Austin Butler as Wil, a Half-Elf, Half-Human, and Aaron Jakubenko as Ander.

In the season finale, Baquero’s character stays behind in Safehold to give the others time to escape from the Trolls following them. It is revealed that Eretria has been captured by Trolls; and she recognizes one of her captors .

The Shannara Chronicles is co-produced by MTV, Sonar Entertainment and Farah Films.

“This dream team delivered a beautiful, ground breaking show with compelling stories and character journeys which brought in new viewers,” said Mina Lefevre, EVP and Head of Scripted Development at MTV.