After the first trailer for Star War spin-off series The Mandalorian landed at the Disney expo event D23 in August, buzz has started to build for director Jon Favreau's take on the galaxy far, far away.
The cast is immense – with Pedro Pascal as the mysterious masked bounty hunter of the title – and clearly Disney is pretty confident with it, seeing as it’s using it as the flagship show for its new streaming platform Disney+.
Now, following a media junket over the weekend, the Mouse House has given critics a preview of 30 minutes of footage.
Read more: UK may have to wait for Disney+
And it sounds like good news to us, with those who have seen it picking up on its full immersion into Star Wars lore, not to mention how well-produced it all looks.
Just saw almost 30 minutes of #TheMandalorian’s pilot episode. It feels like a thrilling return to the original trilogy era of Star Wars. It feels like a big scale movie, not a tv series. They are still keeping a lot of mystery with deliberate cuts in the footage.
— Peter Sciretta (@slashfilm) October 19, 2019
Just watched close to 25 minutes of footage from #TheMandalorian. It’s very cool and atmospheric - sometimes evoking the vibe of Rogue One (which I adore). The title character is instantly fascinating and there are great action and suspense moments, including some Predator vibes
— Eerie Eric Goldman (@TheEricGoldman) October 19, 2019
Oh wow THE MANDALORIAN footage looks incredible. We saw IG-88 attacking, we saw Salacious Crumb being barbecued for a meal. And Werner Herzog as some sort of galactic gangster who has his own team Stormtroopers
— Mike Ryan (@mikeryan) April 14, 2019
Saw almost 30 minutes of #TheMandalorian footage this morning. It's truly incredible. It looks like the films, feels innately Star Wars, introduces new concepts, and adds layers that people have been waiting to see for a long time. pic.twitter.com/4JVB16pMAL
— Mansoor Mithaiwala (@MansoorAYM) October 19, 2019
This is the Star Wars thing I've been waiting for! While I love the Skywalker saga, I've wanted to see new characters and places explored in depth which can only be done over multiple episodes in a series format. Cannot wait to see more of @themandalorian. pic.twitter.com/exRmsLTYzU
— Steven Weintraub (@colliderfrosty) October 19, 2019
Saw ~27 minutes of #TheMandalorian footage this morning. Always difficult to make sense of a bunch of disconnected scenes but it looks intense, surprisingly dark and very expensive.
— Lindsey Bahr (@ldbahr) October 19, 2019
Now this can often be the case – that initial reactions posted on Twitter are celebratory but then later followed by slightly more considered responses (and as noted above, the scenes were ‘disconnected’).
But this all seems pretty overwhelmingly positive to us.
Alongside Pascal are a host of stars, including Nick Nolte, Deadpool star Gina Carano, Giancarlo Esposito, Carl Weathers, Emily Swallow, Taika Waititi, Bill Burr, Julia Jones and revered director and sometime actor Werner Herzog.
When we might get to see it in the UK, however, is another matter.
As it stands, Disney+ may not arrive on these shores until sometime next year – likely thanks to the current deals that Disney has with Sky in the UK, which are thought to be expiring in the spring.
Read more: Rogue One’s Tony Gilroy signs up for Cassian Andor series
Disney+ launches in the US on November 12, meaning that fans in the US will get the first episode of The Mandalorian on day one.
It could be that the show might arrive through another service, however, such as through Disney's UK streaming service DisneyLife, though currently it all feels rather up in the air.
One DisneyLife user used Twitter to try and get some answers last week, but while Disney Life will remain active for 'some time', if you want to know when Disney+ might arrive (as it will in the US, Canada and the Netherlands in scarcely a month's time), you'll have to sit tight.
