Disney and Lucasfilm are keeping up their streak of choosing reliable, if not terribly exciting, talent to helm new Star Wars endeavors. The latest is crowd-pleasing director Jon Favreau, who will executive produce and write a new live-action series, as announced on Thursday. While we still don’t know the series’ release date, title, or even when it will take place in the Star Wars timeline, we do know that it will be available on Disney’s “straight-to-consumer” platform.
Favreau is yet another safe pick for Disney (which is also entrusting him with the upcoming Lion King remake), much like Ron Howard, who took over his installment in the franchise after the firing of two more offbeat directors, and like Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who are developing a series of Star Wars movies. Then again, a live-action Star Wars series is already bold new territory, so a safe choice might be exactly what’s called for.
Favreau, at least, should go in with some goodwill from Star Wars enthusiasts: He voiced fan-favorite villain Pre Vizsla on the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and he’ll lend his voice to the franchise again with an alien character in the upcoming Solo: A Star Wars Story.
