Bryce Dallas Howard And Taika Waititi Will Direct Episodes Of Jon Favreau’s ‘Star Wars’ Show

Earlier in the week, Jon Favreau revealed details about his forthcoming Star Wars show, which will air on Disney’s also forthcoming streaming service. On Thursday, as per The Hollywood Reporter, we learned which directors will be handling the show’s eight episodes. They include Thor: Ragnarok helmer Taika Waititi and big time Hollywood actress and sometime filmmaker Bryce Dallas Howard.

Called The Mandalorian, Favreau’s show is set in the time between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, and it will follow a gunfighter cut from the same cloth as Boba Fett, as well as his dad Jango. The Mandalorians are known for their bounty hunting in the Star Wars universe, so he or she will presumably skulk about the far reaches of the galaxy, far from the jurisdiction of the New Republic.

In addition to Waititi and Howard, the other directors are Rick Famuyiwa (of the 2015 coming-of-age film Dope), Deborah Chow (who’s helmed episodes of Fear the Walking Dead and Jessica Jones), and Dave Filoni (of the animated Clone Wars show).

Waititi was well-established long before Marvel came calling. A member of New Zealand’s comedy scene, he’s repeatedly collaborated with Jemaine Clement, not only on episodes of Flight of the Conchords but also the vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows, in which he also acted. He also directed the delightful The Hunt for the Wilderpeople, starring Sam Neill. Hopefully Waititi will give himself an acting role in his episode, having stolen parts of Ragnarok as the befuddled warrior Korg.

Howard, meanwhile, has quietly directed a number of shorts while starring in films like Jurassic World, The Help, and that episode of Black Mirror about how social media is terrible. This will be her most prominent stint behind the camera, and a Peak TV version of Star Wars might be one of the more interesting things Disney has done with the franchise since it acquired it.