With the Coronavirus pandemic still ongoing, all kinds of productions are delayed and plenty of highly-anticipated movies and TV series have had to pump the brakes. But Star Wars fans needn’t worry about the next season of Disney+ series The Mandalorian – according to Disney CEO Bob Chapek, there won’t be any setbacks in Mando and Baby Yoda’s next set of adventures hitting the streaming service on time.
Speaking to CNBC, Chapek spoke about the impact Covid-19 is having on the entertainment pipeline – and confirmed that it’s only films and series shut down mid-shoot that are facing difficulties. “We have a certain amount of inventory that we’ve got, particularly for Disney+, that is still fuelling the machine. It’s important to know that pre-production, the development phase, can still happen during these times of lockdown. And post-production can still happen. So it’s only films that are mid-stream, right in the middle of production,” he said. “Take, for example, The Mandalorian – [that] was shot before Covid really hit, so we’ve been in post-production, and there will be no delay on Mandalorian. Same thing for Black Widow, which is coming out in November.”
Notably, Chapek didn’t offer any updates on the Marvel shows currently scheduled for arrival this year on Disney+ – The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, WandaVision and Loki – which were all reportedly forced to halt production amid the pandemic. Still, it’s good news about The Mandalorian, which is expected to return with weekly episodes around October this year. Recently, filmmakers Robert Rodriguez and Peyton Reed confirmed they have directed instalments of the upcoming season – and reports indicate that fan-favourite Star Wars universe characters like Ahsoka Tano and Boba Fett will be popping up in the upcoming episodes. We’ll find out how it all plays out later this year.
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