'The Mandalorian' Season 2 Bringing Back Dave Filoni To Direct Again
When The Mandalorian debuted on Disney+ last fall, the first episode marked the live-action directorial debut of The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels executive producer Dave Filoni (seen above left). It was a surprising move, especially when the series was also executive produced by experienced director Jon Favreau, who had films like Iron Man and The Lion King remake under his belt. But the first episode drew fans in and helped kick off this exciting new era of Star Wars on the small screen. So it should come as no surprise that Filoni will again get behind the camera as one of The Mandalorian season 2 directors.
Cinematographer Baz Idoine posted the following to Instagram to announce production wrap on season 2:
As you can see on the production clapboard, the name Dave Filoni is listed as director of whatever this scene was. However, just because this is the clapboard for the final day of production for the second season of The Mandalorian, that doesn't mean Filoni is directing the season finale. Lucasfilm creative art manager posted the same photo on Twitter but also pointed this out:
Just a reminder for you Star Wars speculators out there that TV episodes aren't necessarily filmed in release order.
— Phil Szostak (@PhilSzostak) March 8, 2020
So there's a 50/50 chance that Dave Filoni is directing the second season finale, but he's at least directing one episode. The presence of the koi fish on the clap board is interesting. Some fans in the thread on Twitter that Phil Szotstak created have been wondering if they may have some kind spiritual tie to Filoni's work on the two-part season finale of Book One: Water from the Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series. That would be an interesting detail if Filoni is indeed directing The Mandalorian finale for the second season.
As for the rest of the directors working on the second season of The Mandalorian, there are only two we know about for sure. Jon Favreau confirmed that he would finally be directing at least one episode this season. On top of that, The Mandalorian cast member Carl Weathers will be getting behind the camera this season too. That's at least three episodes accounted for, so if the second season also has eight episodes like the first season, there could be as many as five other directors.
Rick Famuyiwa, Deborah Chow, Bryce Dallas Howard and Taikia Watiti all directed episodes in the first season, with Famuyiwa and Chow each directing two episodes, just as Filoni did. It remains to be seen if any of the other directors from the first season will return to direct any second season episodes. Either way, this series will undoubtedly attract and utilize great filmmakers out there, both established and rising talents. Hopefully we'll hear more of their names soon.