The Mandalorian showrunner Jon Favreau "open" to idea of movie spin-off

The Mandalorian director Jon Favreau told Variety that they were in "no rush" to push the streaming series beyond its hugely successful current home.

But he added: “The line is blurring now. Things that you would have only seen in the movie theatre, you’re seeing on streaming, and I think it could go the other way as well.”

The Mandalorian producers were "definitely open to it and excited to see where the story leads us and have that flexibility — because there’s no rulebook now”, he said.

Pedro Pascal, who plays the laconic cosmic bounty hunter, would "love" to make a movie version of the global hit Disney+ series, which returns to the streaming network for season two on Friday 30th October.

“I think that the work is so beautiful that I would love for that to be held by a big screen experience,” he said. “But it seems to work so well that also I’m not sure it’s something that I would want corrupted by any kind of change, you know? I mean, I certainly know that the challenge can be met. It’s not like these people don’t have the experience. If anybody can do it, they can!”

Favreau of course was the director behind the first MCU films to thrill modern audiences, creating the Robert Downey Jr blockbusters Iron Man (2008) and Iron Man 2 (2010), so there's no one better to comment on the possibilities for The Mandalorian beyond its current platform.

“I learned a lot from my experience over at Marvel, where it was very organic, how it would evolve,” he said. “You’re paying attention to a larger story arcs and characters that could come together, but also smaller stories of individual characters that could go off [on their own thing]. The key here is keep maintaining the quality and never scaling to the point that we’re losing sight of what’s important to us and what people like about the show.”

Early in 2020 former Disney CEO Bob Iger teased the idea of The Mandalorian spinning out its own Star Wars-esque creative universe.

Favreau was a little less bold. “I love the world of Star Wars because, on the one hand, there’s a familiarity with this sub-genre, but there’s also a tremendous amount of flexibility of which way you can go and genres you could explore within that sub-genre,” he said.

"As we’re meeting new characters, and as we’re starting to hit our stride, from a production standpoint with how this technology can be used, we are beginning to explore where we could go.”

The Mandalorian season two starts on Disney Plus Friday 30th October. The Mandalorian release schedule will see a new episode drop each Friday. Sign up to Disney+ for £59.99 a year and £5.99 a month. Check out our lists of the best shows on Disney Plus, best movies on Disney Plus or see what else is on with our TV Guide.