Star Wars: The Mandalorian Season 2 Episodes Reportedly Directed by Robert Rodriguez and James Mangold

UPDATE: Director James Mangold has since confirmed that he is not involved with Season Two of The Mandalorian. Original story continues below.

The second season of the hit Disney+ series Star Wars: The Mandalorian is currently in production with showrunner Jon Favreau leading the charge on the next wave on gunslinging, Darksaber-swinging, Baby Yoda-swaddling adventures in the galaxy. And while we know that Favreau himself is stepping behind the camera to direct an episode or two himself for the first time, we don’t know who else is joining him for more episodes on the series. A new report indicates that some major talent could be joining the fray, including some Academy Award-nominated filmmakers that might surprise some fans.

According to the Star Wars-focused podcast Black Series Rebels, filmmakers James Mangold and Robert Rodriguez are reportedly directing episodes of The Mandalorian Season 2. They will apparently be joined by Bryce Dallas Howard, who previously directed an episode from Season 1. This is especially interesting with new rumors that Mangold is also in talks to take over directing Indiana Jones 5.

So that’s apparently half of the directors for the new season of the Star Wars series, with more likely to be revealed in the near future. It seems like executive producers Favreau and Dave Filoni have big plans to match the quality of the fan-favorite first season of The Mandalorian with even more talented directors.

It’s obvious that Disney has a lot of faith in The Mandalorian continuing on the Star Wars legacy, as company chairman Bob Iger previously stated that Favreau has a lot of similar qualities as franchise creator George Lucas.

“First of all, we have great faith in Jon. Both as a storyteller, but also as a storyteller like George that knows how to use technology for the good of his stories, and the good of the audience that will ultimately hear or see the stories,” Iger told The Star Wars Show. “We had seen that in Jungle Book, which he remade for us, which I thought was brilliant in so many different ways. We certainly saw that in Lion King, which was breakthrough in many ways.”

He continued, “And so when Jon pitched the idea of a Star Wars series, we immediately understood not only did we have a great storyteller, but we had a storyteller that was going to continue to write new rules of sorts or mine new territory in terms of how he was going to use technology to tell great stories that felt fresh, that felt important, that felt big, that took people to new places and created new experiences, and so it was a very easy decision for us to make.”

The second season of Star Wars: The Mandalorian is scheduled to premiere on Disney+ in October.