Star Wars: George Lucas Drops by Set of Jon Favreau’s ‘The Mandalorian’

George Lucas sold his movie studio to Disney in 2012, but the filmmaker has regularly dropped by the set of its various projects to see how they are being developed. Jon Favreau, who is producing Star Wars: The Mandlorian, shared an image of Lucas dropping by the series’ set.

Favreau shared the photo of the filmmaker, while adding the caption, “Birthday surprise.” Clearly Favreau was thrilled with the opportunity, as evidenced by the giant smile on his face.

Most of Favreau’s recent posts have offered fans updates about The Mandalorian, even teasing clues to other corners of the Star Wars saga. Seeing Lucas on set of the series is exciting enough, but we can’t help but dissect the background for any other clues.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much to be discerned from the background of the photo, other than it appears to be a restaurant or possibly a cantina.

Lucas officially handed over the keys to his kingdom, but various reports on different Lucasfilm projects have revealed he still makes suggestions here and there, as he sees fit, without ever interfering with a filmmaker’s vision. Most recently, Lucas offered a suggestion that helped define a scene in Solo: A Star Wars Story.

While Lucas was visiting the production, a romantically-charged scene between Solo and Qi’Ra was being filmed, which took place inside Lando’s cape closet aboard the Millennium Falcon. The scene originally featured Han taking Qi’Ra’s cape and hanging it up, until Lucas interjected with something more faithful to the character he created.

“He said, ‘You know, Han wouldn’t bother to hang it up,’” Howard shared with Variety. “And then he sort of did it. George became Han Solo for a second. The body language was there and the attitude. Not only was it a nice accent on the scene, but it was also a reminder that George created this character and really understood him. He was so reluctant [to offer his opinion], and yet the choice was so right that it was fun to use it.”

While not all fans of the franchise have appreciated what Disney has done with the saga, Lucas himself has claimed that fans wouldn’t have enjoyed his initial plans for the sequel trilogy.

In the book James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction, Lucas described, “[The next three Star Wars films] were going to get into a microbiotic world. But there’s this world of creatures that operate differently than we do. I call them the Whills. And the Whills are the ones who actually control the universe. They feed off the Force.”

He added, “If I’d held onto the company I could have done it, and then it would have been done. Of course, a lot of fans would have hated it, just like they did Phantom Menace and everything, but at least the whole story from beginning to end would be told.”

Star Wars: The Mandalorian is set to debut next year on Disney’s streaming service.

Are you hoping Lucas shared his input on the new series? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

[H/T Instagram, jonfavreau]