Jon Favreau (born October 19, 1966) is an American actor, director, and screenwriter who provided the voice of the Mandalorian Pre Vizsla in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the Ardennian pilot Rio Durant in Solo: A Star Wars Story, and the Mandalorian Paz Vizsla in The Mandalorian.

Biography[]

Jon Favreau was born on October 19, 1966^[1] in Flushing, New York^[2]. A longtime Star Wars fan, Favreau's appearance in Star Wars: The Clone Wars as Pre Vizsla was due to running into Dave Filoni at Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound while Favreau was working on post-production for Iron Man.^[source?]

Before the release of Solo: A Star Wars Story, director Ron Howard revealed that Favreau would have a voice role in the film, as a "very cool & important" alien character.^[3] Favreau later revealed an image of his character on Twitter.^[4]

Disney wanted something as big as the films for the release of their streaming service Disney+, so Lucasfilm Ltd. President Kathleen Kennedy first turned to Favreau who said he had an idea and that he would commit to Star Wars. After their meeting at Kennedy's office, Favreau started writing without a contract. When he was officially hired, he had written the first four episodes about a Mandalorian. Kennedy arranged a meeting between Favreau and Filoni in Los Angeles in which they exchanged ideas and drawings for a Mandalorian show. Favreau combined his concept of a lone gunslinger with Filoni's knowledge of Mandalorian history. Favreau's idea was the Child, which the two spent time debating. Favreau and the crew wanted the Child to look goofy and ugly instead of looking too cute. Christian Alzmann's drawing of the Child was the first one that finally clicked. Favreau recruited Pedro Pascal to play the Mandalorian, whose name was later revealed to be Din Djarin.^[5]

On March 8, 2018, it was revealed that Favreau would write and executive produce the upcoming live-action Star Wars television series,^[6] The Mandalorian.^[7] On May 10, 2018, in an interview with Anthony Carboni on the premiere of Solo: A Star Wars Story, Favreau revealed that he was halfway done with writing a season of the series.^[8] When Favreau and^[9] executive producer^[10] Dave Filoni started working together, Filoni would bring up Ahsoka Tano and say that Rosario Dawson was at the top of his lost for the role. Favreau revealed that he knew the actress, which helped the casting process.^[9] Favreau and Filoni did not want to bring Tano into the show in the first season.^[11] During early production of Season One, Favreau told Filoni that the Child's name would be Grogu. They knew they wanted Tano in Season Two's story, so they started visualizing Dawson in the role, and art of her playing Tano was created. Near the release of the first season, Dawson got a FaceTime call from Favreau and Filoni, and they showed her visuals and concept from their plans for Season Two, including art of her as Tano. They asked Dawson if she wanted to play Tano and she agreed.^[9]

During the The Walt Disney Company's Investor Day event on December 10, 2020, it was revealed that Favreau, along with Filoni, would executive produce two television series that would connect to The Mandalorian–Rangers of the New Republic and Ahsoka.^[12] Favreau created the The Book of Boba Fett television series and worked as a writer and executive producer.^[13] He created the Mods and wanted them to have a retro punk aesthetic.^[14]

When Filoni was writing the episodes for Ahsoka, Favreau enhanced his writing by pointing out things from the perspective of someone not deep in animation and Ahsoka Tano's history.^[15] After actress Natasha Liu Bordizzo sent a self-tape, Favreau tried to make the casting process as seamless as possible. Months later, Bordizzo met Favreau and Filoni, and the former explained what he did. After Bordizzo was cast as the Mandalorian Sabine Wren^[16] in 2021,^[17] Favreau and Filoni told the actress it would be great if she watched Star Wars Rebels, but they said the live-action version would always be a new thing that finds its own truth.^[16] Ahsoka started production on May 9, 2022.^[18] At Lucasfilm's Studio Showcase at Celebration Anaheim, 2022, Favreau and Filoni played a video message from Rosario Dawson in her full costume from the show's set. Favreau then told the audience they could see costumes and props from The Mandalorian in a special exhibit.^[19] At the Mando+ panel, Favreau and Filoni showed the first footage from Ahsoka and introduced Bordizzo as Wren in the series.^[20]

Works[]

Filmography[]

Bibliography[]

Year	Title	Contribution(s)
2018	Solo: A Star Wars Story Read-Along Storybook and CD	Rio Durant

Sources[]

Notes and references[]

External links[]

• Jon Favreau (@jonfavreau) on Facebook
• Jon Favreau (@jonfavreau) on Instagram
• Jon Favreau (@Jon_Favreau) on Twitter
• Jon Favreau on Wikipedia
• Jon Favreau at the Internet Movie Database