'The Mandalorian' Books Are On The Way, But How Much Will They Expand The Series?
The Mandalorian is the latest success in the Star Wars franchise, and with the first season of the show complete, Lucasfilm is ready to dive into some books centered on the Disney+ production.
Later this year, a variety of The Mandalorian books will be released, including a book collecting some of the stunning concept art from the first season, as well as an adult novel by author Adam Christopher. But that's not all.
StarWars.com announced the upcoming slate of The Mandalorian books coming in the fall, winter, and spring:
The Art of The Mandalorian book is something we've been waiting for ever since the credits of the first season showed off the various pieces of concept art used to create the series. The cover seen above was created by Lucasfilm's own Doug Chiang just for the book, and we're sure there's much more art that we haven't seen at all yet. After getting a glimpse at some of the alternate designs for Baby Yoda, we're hoping there will be more glimpses at some character designs that didn't make it into the show. We'll find out when it hits shelves on December 15, 2020.
Beyond that, the most intriguing book in this line-up is that mystery original novel by Adam Christopher. We're rather curious about that one because we'd previously heard that executive producer Jon Favreau wasn't too keen on having other writers expand the universe of the series and potentially creating canonical problems for him to work around in future seasons. Perhaps this novel was created with input from Favreau, so it can work within the confines of the series.
As for the rest of the titles, three of them are meant for kids, but The Mandalorian: The Ultimate Visual Guide should provide some additional information about the show's characters, vehicles, and locations to help fill in some gaps. Those books always offer up some intriguing details about the movies when they are released.
On top of these books, Marvel and IDW Publishing are also working on comics inspired by The Mandalorian, but details on those haven't been revealed just yet. Parents will also get a chance to read their kids stories about a helmeted man who kills people for money in the form of a Little Golden Book and a retelling of the first season from Screen Comix, which is like a graphic novel adaptation for kids. It's never too early to tell your kids about the dangers of a galaxy far, far away, which is why they'll also be getting some magazine, novelty, and coloring & activity titles from Titan, Studio Fun, Crayola, Thunder Bay Press, Disney Publishing Worldwide, and Dreamtivity. Two of those companies sound totally fake, but we're assured they are real.
Stay tuned for more details on The Mandalorian books as they become available.