Mandalorian Trailer Sets Up the First Live-Action Star Wars Series

The Mandalorian trailer is here. At Disney's D23 Expo in California on Friday, Lucasfilm released the first trailer for the first live-action Star Wars series — The Mandalorian — which gives us our first proper look at what the Jon Favreau-created show will look like.

The one-and-a-half minute Mandalorian trailer is largely silent, instead aiming to give Star Wars fans an atmospheric look at the show's setting and its characters. Set a few years after the fall of the Empire in Return of the Jedi, The Mandalorian follows “a lone gunfighter (Pedro Pascal) in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the New Republic's authority.”

The first Mandalorian trailer opens with Stormtrooper helmets on spikes, a stark image for a franchise that has always tried to be family friendly. We then see a spaceship, belonging to the title character, fly over a forest, before he walks into a cantina and meets with bounty hunter guild leader Greef Carga (Carl Weathers). The spaceship then flies over a barren, broken landscape.

Cut to glimpses of former Rebel Shock Trooper Cara Dune (Gina Carano), Giancarlo Esposito's villainous character, a bunch of aliens, and a row of what looks like Shadow Stormtroopers lining up as a firing squad.

The trailer for The Mandalorian then ratchets up a gear and shows off its action sequences, including a speeder bike and an AT-AT at night-time, two spaceships duking it out, and the Mandalorian using a large laser blaster to take out enemies, while being assisted by what looks like his droid companion.

In a different scene, the Mandalorian ends up in a Mexican standoff with Stormtroopers. The first dialogue in the trailer for the Star Wars series appears after the one-minute mark, as Werner Herzog's character says: “Bounty hunting is a complicated profession.”

In addition to Pascal, Weathers, Carano, Esposito, and Herzog, The Mandalorian cast includes Nick Nolte, Emily Swallow, Omid Abtahi, Bill Burr, Mark Boone Junior, Ming-Na Wen, and the voice of Taika Waititi. Waititi has also directed The Mandalorian episodes alongside Dave Filoni (Star Wars: The Clone Wars), actress Bryce Dallas Howard, Rick Famuyiwa (Dope), and Deborah Chow (Reign).

The Mandalorian premieres November 12 on Disney+, the same day as the streaming service's launch date in Canada, Netherlands, and the US. 

August 24, 2019