Jon Favreau Isn't Joking About Wanting To Make A New 'Star Wars' Holiday Special, Already Has Plans

The 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special has been famously ridiculed — the dated 1970s variety special structure; the hokey musical sequences; the endless Wookie grunts; Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, and Mark Hamill looking absolutely mortified — but for a rare few fans, it holds a special place in their hearts. One of those fans is apparently Jon Favreau, the creator of the successful new Disney+ series The Mandalorian, who actually has the power to do something about that. Favreau revealed that he is genuinely interested in making a new Star Wars Holiday Special and in fact already has plans in place for one.

Favreau revealed to Variety at The Mandalorian fan event that he "would definitely be interested in doing a holiday special." And he's not joking. "And I'm not going to say who I would be interested in," he continued. "But one of the people is the member of the cast in an upcoming episode of the show. So we'll leave it at that for now."

You think he's joking? Variety did as well and pressed him to reveal the punchline, only for Favreau to double down on his intentions:

"I've been thinking about it. It's ready, the ideas are ready. I think it could be really fun. Not as part of this, but there's an excitement around it because it was so fun and weird, and off and not connected to what 'Star Wars' was in the theater. 'The Mandalorian' cartoon, the Boba Fett cartoon, from the holiday special was definitely a point of inspiration for what we did in the show."

The "Life Day" TV special aired on CBS in 1978 and has become an infamous piece of pop culture history: a trainwreck of a variety show-style special that even George Lucas has admitted he wished never existed. "If I had the time and a sledgehammer," Lucas famously said, "I would track down every bootlegged copy of that program and smash it."

But despite its infamy, Favreau squeezed in a reference to "Life Day," the Wookie holiday celebrated by Chewbacca in the special, in the first episode of The Mandalorian. An all-blue Mythrol character played by comedian Horatio Sanz wishes to return home to his family for the holiday in a deep cut even the most ardent Star Wars fans would rather forget. But not Favreau, who seems to have a genuine affection for the special. And if The Mandalorian proves to be a major hit for Disney+, Favreau could end up bringing us this Star Wars holiday special after all.