Star Wars: The Mandalorian Director Rick Famuyiwa Teases Where the Future of the Franchise Is Moving

02/26/2022 09:35 am EST

Rick Famuyiwa believes Star Wars' future lies in telling stories from different points of view. Famuyiwa has directed three episodes of The Mandalorian and written for the series. As an African American, Famuyiwa is among a diverse group of filmmakers contributing to the post-Disney buyout era of the Star Wars franchise. For a Black History month feature on StarWars.com, Famuyiwa discussed his childhood love of Star Wars and how it helped inspire him to become a filmmaker. He also talked about the team of creators working on The Mandalorian and the different perspectives they each bring.

"One of the great things about The Mandalorian in particular was there was this group of filmmakers that came together, and kind of brought together by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni and Kathy Kennedy," Famuyiwa says. "But each of the filmmakers were from different perspectives and had different point of views. And so I've always felt that what makes The Mandalorian resonate so much is, of course, we got a very cool lead character that lots of people love, but I think also it's that there were stories being told from a perspective that, even though it was in the world of Star Wars, it was new. It was different. It felt like what I was saying and my point of view was different than what Dave Filoni's or Taika Waititi's point of view were, than Deb Chow, but that they were all part of the same storytelling. And it kind of opened up what storytelling in Star Wars could be. If you just bring in different perspectives, you find those little elements that make things new and really exciting."

Famuyiwa continued, saying he believes the approach used on The Mandalorian is one that the Star Wars franchise will continue following in the future. "So I think the future of Star Wars is continuing to sort of open up those doors and continue to tell these stories from a point of view, because that's not what we've seen before. I want to continue to be a part of that storytelling, because I do think, as I was saying before, that the audience today and coming up and growing up with storytelling wants to see a different kind of thing. And I think Star Wars and other franchises have to speak to that, or they become like artifacts — museum pieces that we study — and they're not living and breathing. You have to be where the people are. And the people right now are a global community that has perspectives that are varied, but at the same time, a kind of universal thing binding everything together. And honestly, that's what the Force is. That's what the galaxy of Star Wars has always been about, represented through different alien species and droids and disparate sort of lands that both look familiar and not. But all of it was sort of shaped by one universal thing."

The Mandalorian is streaming now on Disney+. The show's third season is expected to debut later this year.

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