The Mandalorian Season 2 Begins Filming With Director Rick Famuyiwa This October

We’re still a few months away before the premiere of Star Wars: The Mandalorian, the first live-action Star Wars series launching alongside the new streaming service Disney+. But Lucasfilm and their parent company are obviously excited about the show’s future as they’re set to start filming the second season before the show’s premiere.

Now we know that director Rick Famuyiwa will be returning to the director’s chair for Season 2, reprising his role behind the camera after helming two episodes of the first season. The news was confirmed by Discussing Film, who reached out to Famuyiwa’s reps and confirmed his return as well as the production start date.

According to the report, filming is set to begin on October 7th in Los Angeles. They also state that Taika Waititi will likely not return to direct an episode in Season 2, as he’ll be working on his film for Fox Searchlight called Next Goal Wins before beginning production on Thor: Love and Thunder.

Famuyiwa is perhaps best known for his role directing the indie hit Dope, which helped launch the careers of Miles Morales voice-actor Shameik Moore and Spider-Man: Far From Home actor Tony Revolori. He was supposed to direct The Flash for Warner Bros. and was the first name attached to the project other than actors Ezra Miller and Kiersey Clemons. Famuyiwa left the project after creative differences, and has since been followed by Jonathan Goldstein and Jon Francis Daly. Now IT CHAPTER TWO director Andy Muschietti is the next in line, though it’s not clear if he’ll actually get to make the movie given everything that’s happened with this property.

Apparently, Famuyiwa was also meant to direct episodes of the Rogue One prequel series featuring Cassian Andor. However, with that series shooting in London around the same time as The Mandalorian, the report indicates that Famuyiwa decided to stay stateside and remain on the show he’s helping launch.

The Mandalorian showrunner Jon Favreau explained why he trusted directors like Famuyiwa and Waititi instead of helming the series himself.

“…Disney+ is emerging and there’s an opportunity to tell a story that’s bigger than television, but you don’t have the same expectations that a big holiday release has, which to me isn’t that type of Star Wars that comes out of me,” Favreau explained to the Hollywood Reporter. “The type of Star Wars that I’m inspired to tell is a smaller thing with new characters.”

The Mandalorian launches with Disney+ on November 12th.