Jon Favreau's Star Wars TV Series Lands Jungle Book Production Designers
25 May, 2018
Jon Favreau's upcoming Star Wars TV series might not have a title yet, but it's going to have a distinct look to it. The former Iron Man director just hired two artists to help create the look of the series. There are very few details known about the project at the moment, other than the fact that it will be set a few years after Return Of The Jedi.
Favreau's no stranger to the Star Wars franchise, either. He recently voiced Rio Durant in Solo: A Star Wars Story. He's also previously a handful of characters on The Clone Wars animated series. And now, Favreau will be making use of his many talents as both a writer and producer to bring Star Wars onto Disney's streaming service in the near future. Considering the caliber of artistic talent he just brought on-board, it's sure to include plenty of CGI characters alongside the human actors. Otherwise, it wouldn't be much of a Star Wars TV series.
According to THS, Lucasfilm has hired Doug Chiang and Andrew L. Jones as production designers for Jon Favreau's Star Wars TV series. The two previously worked with Favreau on his adaptation of The Jungle Book in 2015. Aside from that film, Chiang is also a veteran Star Wars artist. He not only worked as the production designer of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story but also did some design work for the first two Star Wars prequels as well as 2015's Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Jones, on the other hand, has provided art direction for blockbuster movies such as Avatar, Oz The Great And Powerful, and Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland.
This will be the first ever live-action Star Wars TV series and the second new series currently being developed. The other TV show, Star Wars: Resistance, will be an animated adventure in the same vein as Star Wars: Rebels. Like Favreau's series, it will also help bridge the gap between the original and sequel trilogies. Along with the small screen, several other Star Wars movies are also in the works. In addition to J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: Episode IX, there's the just-announced Boba Fett movie as well as a potential Obi-Wan movie in the near future, not to mention new films by Rian Johnson and Game of Thrones show runners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. Plus, there's also the possibility of Solo: A Star Wars Story sequels, spinoffs, or both.
As for Jon Favreau, in addition to adapting Star Wars for the small screen, he's busy helming the live-action remake of Disney's The Lion King as well as The Jungle Book 2. Details are sparse about The Lion King at the moment, but like The Jungle Book, the live-action remake will also rely on motion capture for its effects. And while there's no official release date, Favreau's Star Wars series could launch alongside Disney's streaming service in 2019. It's possible that Favreau's series could be used to help lure subscribers to their new platform, much like how CBS used Star Trek: Discovery for their All Access streaming service that launched last year.