Elements of Star Wars series The Mandalorian have been compared to Clint Eastwood movies by Jon Favreau. Favreau has been instrumental in the new Disney Plus era of Star Wars, and he is credited as the force behind The Mandalorian.
He has also been working closely with other TV series in the franchise too, including The Book of Boba Fett and the upcoming Ahsoka which are all interconnected. Andor season 1, meanwhile, remained largely separate and self-contained.
Now, in the runup to The Mandalorian season 3 release date Favreau has been speaking more about his show. He’s given plenty of interesting nuggets of information (including that the script for season 4 is already written, and that there is no ending planned for Din Djarin and Baby Yoda) and has even mentioned how the legendary Clint Eastwood has served as inspiration.
Speaking with Empire, Favreau said, “There’s a central relationship of modelling a protective father in a not very communicative relationship. There’s a language that we try to pass down to the different directors, and usually to the cinematographers, that the Mandalorian has different expressions, based on how the head is tilted, and how the T-visor reveals itself.”
He then brought in the Clint Eastwood connection, saying, “Much like how Clint Eastwood would use the brim of the hat to make acting choices with a lot of stoicism in the actual facial performance. A lot of Eastwood’s performance was how he worked the lens, and how he worked the camera and the angles, and how long the lens was, how the scene was composed. The artistic composition said much of the story.”
The influence of the Western genre has been apparent throughout The Mandalorian, especially in season 1 where the Star Wars character was essentially a gun slinging space cowboy. But Favreau’s direct comparison to Clint Eastwood with how emotion is conveyed makes the parallel all the stronger.
For more on Star Wars, check out our guide to the darksaber and Bo Katan, and find out more about the Andor season 2 release date and the Andor cast of characters including Luthen Rael, Mon Mothma, Dedra Meero, and Syril Karn.