Hello there, today the latest issue of Production Weekly has been released and has set the Star Wars fandom abuzz as the publication is reporting that the fourth season of The Mandalorian is gearing up to begin filming this November. This news follows reports from Deadline which revealed that the Mando 4 was looking to suffer a delay from its planned late September filming start to an unspecified time due to the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike, which currently does not have an end in sight. In addition the WGA strike, the Directors Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild are also possibly ramping up for a strike of their own in the coming weeks/months, which could delay The Mandalorian along with many other film and television projects significantly further.

Before we continue with The Mandalorian news, I’d just like to share that you can now support my work in two ways. Firstly it’s via my newly created Patreon page which has a single tier at this time simply to support my work. Secondly you can tip me with a simple one off payment on my Ko-Fi page or you can choose to support my work monthly on the platform. I’d truly appreciate it if you decided to support my work, but no pressure, I know things are pretty tough out here. Anyway, back to the reason you came here – the news!

It was first reported by MakingStarWars in March that The Mandalorian season four was aiming to begin filming at the start of October and shortly after, the creator of the series, Jon Favreau, confirmed that he’d already written the fourth season of the hit Disney+ series and that early pre-production had begun, with MSW reporting that the scripts were likely written and finalised ahead of the WGA strike. If filming were to start on The Mandalorian season four whilst the WGA strike was ongoing, Favreau, who is the showrunner of the series in addition to being a writer, would find himself in murky waters. Despite the scripts being complete, Favreau would not be allowed to cut for time, complete minor dialogue or narration changes, and would not be allowed to make technical or stage direction changes in his role as producer and showrunner of the series as he’s part of the Writers Guild of America, as is his producing and writing partner, Dave Filoni. Recently Andor season two writer and showrunner, Tony Gilroy, ceased his showrunner duties on the critically acclaimed series after coming under fire from fellow Writers Guild of America members who accused the writer-producer of scabbing after it was reported that Gilroy would continue to his production duties on the series following the completion of the season two scripts.

Following up on the Production Weekly report, I reached out to two separate sources to ask for an update on planned filming for The Mandalorian season four or to see if they could confirm the November rumour. One source simply dismissed the claim and the other stressed to me that everything is on hold and likely would be until an agreement is made between the WGA and the studios, emphasising to me that there’s no planned timetable, nothing is concrete as things stand, and reminding me of the possibility of the DGA strike.

I’m not here to say who you should believe, I’m simply just sharing with you what I’ve been told and that, at least for now, fans of The Mandalorian should not be getting their hopes up in regards to production picking up any time soon. Hopefully it’s sooner rather than later, but before that, and most importantly, hopefully the writers get what they whole heartedly deserve.

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