The Mandalorian Season 2: 10 Major New Reveals From EW's Feature And Stills
9. What Made Season 1 Work So Well
The new Star Wars movies have been nothing if not divisive, and even the spinoffs received mixed reviews after being plagued by well-publicised issues behind the scenes. That makes it all the more surprising that The Mandalorian was loved by, well, pretty much everyone.
Favreau and Filoni found the magic formula, and the former believes it was the low expectations many people had for a Star Wars TV show that ultimately helped them. "I think it was the fact it was live-action Star Wars on TV for the first time. Having worked on bigger, higher-profile films, there’s a much different set of standards that you’re judged by. We’ve benefited from the smallness of our world."
As for Filoni, he's convinced that it boiled down to the fact "We didn't overthink things."
"George started with these very iconic characters whose relationships are very clear, and then introduced what’s at stake — for us, the [fate of] the Child," he explains. "An audience tends to enjoy a story by sticking to tropes and characters they understand — like a gunslinger in the Old West. So it was a clear story and a fun adventure even if you’ve never seen anything [in the Star Wars universe]."