Mark Hamill says he is done with the Star Wars franchise, telling Entertainment Weekly he “can’t imagine” playing Luke Skywalker again.

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“Oh, I can’t imagine that, no. I had a beginning, middle, and end,” he explains. “Those films gave me far more than I ever expected when we started out so it’s never even occurred to me. My farewell was in Episode IX and it was bittersweet. I love all those people and I certainly have affection for George [Lucas] and the character he created. I’m full of gratitude for what it has given me and my career but I don’t want to be greedy. There are still so many more stories to tell and so many great actors to tell them, they don’t need me.”

Hamill also gives his take on the new Disney+ series, The Mandalorian: “I think they have a wonderful advantage on The Mandalorian in that it’s economical storytelling. They don’t have the burden of delivering a gigantic special effects extravaganza like the films had to do. It sort of gets back to the basics of George envisioning it as a western in space. It has that tone of a Sergio Leone Western. I’m very impressed with it and to me, a very smart move on their part because you can’t keep trying to top…It’s like the superhero movies that have to deliver these gargantuan epics. And with The Mandalorian, they can concentrate more on the characters and the storytelling. I think it’s excellent.”

Season 2 of The Mandalorian is expected to release on Disney+ in October 2020.

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Though Star Wars fans have been divided on the latest cinematic trilogy, it would appear that Disney Plus’ original series The Mandalorian has given them cause for celebration. The Jon Favreau-helmed became an instant hit among die-hards and casuals alike, with hype intensifying tenfold upon the widely-memed arrival of the colloquially-named “Baby Yoda.” Suffice it to say, a renewal seemed like an inevitability, and Disney has taken things a step further by confirming a third season has currently started production.

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With season 2 set to premiere in October, Variety reports that Favreau has been hard at work writing the scripts for season three. He’s not alone in getting the ball rolling, with the art department already whipping up new ideas and concepts for the expansive science-fiction series. The report cites a source that confirms as such, stating “We’ve just started pre-production and are looking into further adventures for the Mandalorian in Season 3.” 

The news bodes well for fans, who may very well benefit from serendipitous timing; The Mandalorian’s second season finished production before COVID-19 truly began to wreak havoc on the world, and as such remains on course for its initial premiere date. While little is known about the plot, Rosario Dawson has been heavily rumored to be playing Ahsoka Tano, the former apprentice to Anakin Skywalker and a heavy fan-favorite from The Clone Wars. 

Check back for more news on the Star Wars original series. In other Mandalorian news, gaming website IGN launched a fake-out trailer in honor of 4/20, a trick that left more than a few die-hard fans in their feelings. Are you excited to see this series continue to build?

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While April Fool’s Day was a relatively somber experience this year, leave it to 4/20 to provide a healthy dose of unfiltered and THC-fueled antics. It would appear the good folks over at IGN were particularly inspired, taking it upon themselves to fire off a playful prank destined to rankle the feathers of die-hard Star Wars fans. The gaming website decided to craft a trailer for Disney Plus’ wildly popular Mandalorian Season 2, masking it as the real deal and quickly amassing a healthy two-million views.

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The opening scenes were innocuous enough, striking a somber tone that seemingly centered around the threat of losing the beloved sidekick “Baby Yoda”. Before long, Mandalorian was grappling with the idea of casting his young friend aside, only to be met with the big reveal. Cut to a teenage “Baby Yoda”, smoking on some space-weed, staring defiantly at his father figure with a freshly flipped bird. Alas, it was all a joke — albeit one packaged rather ably as the real deal. 

As such, the clip left many Star Wars fans feeling a simultaneous blend of shame and anger, the likes of which were felt by the notorious Anakin Skywalker himself — moments before going on a murderous rampage. One quick gander through the YouTube comments makes it abundantly clear that the masses were not amused by the attempt at a post-dated April Fool’s joke, a fact doubly confirmed by the staggering amount of dislikes. Check it out for yourself, and sound off — did you find yourself, quite possibly high as Teenage “Yoda” himself, duped by this elaborate ruse? 

Everyone’s favourite 50-year-old baby is out here breaking records like it’s nobody’s business. The character of the Child from the Disney+ series The Mandalorian, who is most often referred to as Baby Yoda, recently joined the ranks of all the most beloved fictional characters and celebrities in history by becoming a Funko Pop figure. In a since-deleted post on the Funko Twitter account, art director Reis O’Brien announced that the figure for Baby Yoda had actually broken the record for most pre-order sales in the company’s history.

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“It’s bananas,” said O’Brien. Disney and Funk announced the launch of the Baby Yoda figure back in December. O’Brien didn’t reveal how many units the figure had sold so far, but as of right now it’s on track to match the Baby Dancing Groot Funko Pop from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Breaking news: the people love babies.

O’Brien also revealed that the company was given design specs for the figure before any of The Mandalorian episodes had even aired. However, nobody on the Funko team got the chance to watch the show early. “They’ve got to guard spoilers. They’ve got to keep secrets,” he noted. “As far as story points go, we get nothing.” This obligation to keep details about the show under wraps in order to avoid leaking any spoilers to fans ultimately lead to a major loss in potential revenue from Baby Yoda merch for Disney. After Baby Yoda became an Internet sensation when The Mandalorian first aired in November (and everyday since), the demand for plushies and figures of the adorable little creature got increasingly higher. However, Disney was not able to capitalize on this popularity by launching official Baby Yoda merch in time for the holidays because of how tight-lipped they’d been about the show. It looks like they’re going to make up for their lack of preparation for the meme-craze of Baby Yoda that lead to major merch mania with this Funko figure, though, as Baby Yoda continues his quest toward world domination. 

When Disney Plus launched, the new streaming platform instantly became a hit pulling in millions of subscribers who wanted endless access to every film and series Disney has produced. The platform’s new show The Mandalorian dethroned Netflix’s Stranger Things when it became the most streamed series in the U.S. The Star Wars spin-off had over 100 million streams during the week of November 17th to November 23rd. 

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Variety now reports that season two of the beloved show will be arriving in October 2020. The second installment of episodes will introduce new characters and according to Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, the mass media company is looking at “the possibility of infusing [Mandalorian] with more characters and taking those characters in their own direction in terms of series.” Other series to look forward to are The Falcon and the Winter Soldier arriving in August, WandaVision in December and Loki with its release date still unknown at this time.

In another conversation with The Holywood Reporter, Bob revealed more on Marvel characters. “There are seven other Marvel series in various stages of development or pre-production,” he added. 

Peep some February releases set to roll out this month on the platform. 

There's no doubt that Baby Yoda was the standout star of the Star Wars franchise's The Mandalorian series last year. The little green creature looked equal parts gremlin (like OG Yoda) and adorable (like an actual baby), but there's one detail about the character, who is canonically named The Child, that was made to be a little more human than animal. Oscar-nominated sound editors David Acord and Matthew Wood worked on The Mandalorian and were responsible for conceptualizing Baby Yoda's vocalization. Though Acord and Wood intended to have him sound like the kind of creature that could be found in the wild, they ultimately had to go in a different direction.

The feelings we have for this photo cannot be expressed with mere words, but it’s worth a shot. Jon Favreau, executive producer of The Mandalorian series from the Star Wars franchise, shared a very important Instagram post on Thursday. In the photo, the famed creator of the entire Star Wars universe, George Lucas, can be seen cradling Baby Yoda, the Internet’s favourite little gremlin and the standout star of the series, while filming season 2.

Baby Yoda, who was given his name since he resembles a baby version of the original Yoda character but has actually been revealed to be called The Child, has become somewhat of an Internet sensation. His adorable baby antics has turned him into a viral meme on more than one occasion, and his wide-eyed wonder has fans melting from cuteness on a regular basis. Instagram meme account, Tank Sinatra, commented on the photo, “Proud grandpa,” and it’s definitely a fair assessment. Considering George started Star Wars way back in the 70s with Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope, he could lowkey be considered Baby Yoda’s grandfather. The photo is made even more comical by the fact that Baby Yoda is inexplicably wearing a winter coat, somewhat resembling the one worn by the infamous Ikea Monkey in 2012—remember that? Who would’ve thought that two cute viral legends would have such similar taste in outerwear.

Taika Waititi is one of the most sought after directors right now. He was launched into pop culture fame after directing Thor: Ragnarok, which retooled the franchise and thrust Thor into the spotlight after two lackluster previous films. Then, Waititi directed JoJo Rabbit, which was earned critical acclaim and several award nominations. Now, it’s being reported that Waititi may get his own Star Wars film. 

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Waititi has been approached about helming a film in the galaxy far, far away. It is unclear if this new film will be the same Star Wars movie that Marvel Studio head Kevin Feige will be working on, but it would make sense. Feige and Waititi worked together on Ragnarok, and Feige’s vision for the future of Star Wars will undoubtedly have him guiding an expanded universe in the same way he did with the MCU. Waititi directed the final episode of The Mandalorian, the Disney+ hit that spawned The Child, or Baby Yoda as the internet has dubbed him. He also voiced the beloved droid character IG-11, who turns from a villain into The Child’s guardian in the final episode. What do you think about Waititi getting his own Star Wars film?

Baby Yoda might just be taking over the world, and we're not even mad about it. The 50-year-old infant creature, whose official name has been designated "The Child" (although Baby Yoda has a better ring to it), has been stealing hearts around the world ever since the character debuted in the Disney Plus Star Wars series, The Mandalorian. The series wrapped up its first season on December 27th, but Baby Yoda continues to dominate the meme world, entertaining viewers and non-viewers alike with his wide-eyed wonder and miniature size. It looks like Disney is well aware of Baby Yoda's power and influence, as they've already taken several measures to ensure that we'll be seeing the little guy's likeness on just about everything. It was reported in November that Baby Yoda merch was already in development, but nobody could have predicted just how many markets the tiny Star Wars character could dominate.