For any Star Wars and cinema fan who is interested not just in the story, but also in the story behind the story, any sneak behind the curtains of the creative process is always welcome.
On September 2nd 2026 along with the streaming premieres of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu and LEGO Star Wars: The Mandalorian, we got treated with a two episode limited series hosted by Jon Favreau himself – Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu Official Podcast.
The two half hour episodes titled “Growing Up” and “Bigger and Different” offer viewers and listeners some insightful details and trivia on the creation of the latest cinematic adventure in a galaxy far far away.
Episodes 1 and 2 are available on Disney+ as well as on YouTube.
Episode 1 “Growing Up” featuring Dave Filoni, Pedro Pascal, Sigourney Weaver, and Grogu himself
Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni welcome us at Adelphi Base for a talk and some exciting behind the scenes footage occasionally playing over their conversation.
The two directors reflect on the legacy of George Lucas and his insistence on Star Wars being a beacon of hope for younger generations – strengthening a core belief in striving to be a better person, in being selfless, in believing that “you and your friends and found family can pull it off”.
Dave Filoni remembers his early days at Lucasfilm Animation, being impressed with the space, created by George Lucas especially for the needs of filmmakers and storytellers at Skywalker Ranch, and starting off on The Clone Wars.
The highlight of the episode for me was Joh and Dave sharing how the legendary Y-wing model Red Jammer ended up finally being used in the film!
Red Jammer was originally construcred as a reference model during the production of the first Star Wars film, though it was never used in the film itself.
So it happened that the model was being pulled out from the depths of the vast Lucasfilm Archives and being “dusted off” in preparation for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art (about to open doors for the public on September 22).
Jon Favreau and John Knoll got a permission straight from George Lucas to use the model for the film and so, some five decades later, the Y-wing that was in front of the original Dykstraflex digital motion-control camera system finally got its moment to shine, along with other models such as the 48 inch Razor Crest seen in various shots of the film!
Speaking of the Dykstraflex, Filoni shared that somehow similar technique was used for capturing the performance of numerous puppets and then combining them in a single shot, especially when camera movement was involved.
While working on Ahsoka Season Two Dave Filoni also directed the puppet units for The Mandalorian and Grogu and shared that in some ways the process is not that different from combining the animation cells and backgrounds in traditional animation – you add up layers and layers of puppets, choosing the best performances for the final cut.
The filmmaker also shared details about the extensive sets, built on a single sound stage for the puppeteers, who went in the steps of Frank Oz.
Favreau and Filoni agreed on the fact that improving the tech on the Grogu puppet through the last eight years and having the character being able to do and express more is also fitting to his story arch and him learning and growing with each new adventure.
Through the roundtable talk with stars Pedro Pascal and Sigourney Weaver, Farveau also talks about the fun of having to film in IMAX and build taller sets in order to match the different aspect ratio, as well as the cliffhanger structure of the script, moving on through several episodic adventures, emulating the feel of the old Flash Gordon serials with Buster Crabbe, a childhood favourite of George Lucas.
Jon describes the film as a modern take on B-movie aesthetics elevated to A+ visual effects., while Pedro Pascal expresses his fascination with the fact how something so new can at the same time provide a sense of nostalgia.
Episode 2 “Bigger and Different” featuring Ludwig Göransson
In Episode 2 Jon Favreau is joined by composer and multi-instrumentalist Ludwig Göransson (and possibly the best Ludwig music has gotten since van Beethoven).
The two discuss their already eight year collaboration on the Mandoverse. Göransson goes into details about the beginnings of his career and his early musical experiences.
He shares that his high school education in Sweden allowed him to compose music for an orchestra which was actually performed by professional musicians and that the feeling of having his music played by an orchestra has been a lifechanging moment for him.
He also admits that bits of that composition had been inspired by the work of John Williams and the Darth Vader theme in particular. The composer also shares some memories on his days at the USC and scoring short films with no dialogue, as well as working on a TV schedule.
Jon Favreau praises The Mandalorian and Grogu soundtrack for being a brave mixture of orchestral music and a DJ set. Him and Göransson talk about the use of analog syths in order to achieve the right balance of retro and futurism, matching the right tones to the neon noir atmosphere for Shakari, where the director was looking for a Chicago gangster film feel combined with some Blade Runner sci-fi grit.
Göransson on the other hand says that his work was made somehow difficult by the fact that the raw cut of the film was temped not with music by other people, but with his own old tracks, while he prefers to reach out and reinvent himself… which he really did with the surprising new arrangement of The Mandalorian theme playing on the radio at Hugo Durant’s food truck (and as an easter egg during the final credits).
Episode 2 continues with the second part of the talk between Jon and Dave and the two reminisce over the fun they had working on the update for the Smuggler’s Run attraction at Galaxy’s Edge and their collaboration with ILM.
They end up saying that due to the popularity of Grogu and Mando the film could be an entry point to Star Wars to anyone, including young viewers who are new to the faraway galaxy.
My Thoughts and a Slight Disappointment
I won’t deny that I was a bit disappointed to get to know that the announced Official Podcast was just two episodes, I was hoping to get more, to hear from concept artists, puppeteers and stop motion animators, prop and droid builders, stop motion animators, designers, set builders.
But I’m happy that we got at least this. With the decline of physical media, bonus features have become scarce and we get mainly publicity videos and press tours, instead of actual behind the scenes material.
We used to get tons of storyboards and cinematics, deleted scenes, several commentary tracks and all sorts of documentaries, which is rarely the case nowadays. So getting an hour of Favreau and Filoni talking Mando and Grogu is more than welcome.
If you have not yet seen The Mandalorian and Grogu, you can read our spoiler-free review. If you have, then join us for a deep dive into the story, characters, and everything interesting from the new movie that just arrived to Disney +.
