The Art of The Mandalorian and Grogu Book Digs Up Lost McQuarrie Ideas
Rotta's baby pictures included.
Anthony Bruno
The next big Star Wars behind-the-scenes book lands next week. The Art of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu hits shelves on November 3 from Abrams, and it's a 256-page hardcover packed with concept art, sketches and interviews from the making of the movie (Abrams Books). Lucasfilm's Phil Szostak wrote it, and production designer Doug Chiang wrote the foreword.
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Here's the final trailer for the movie from Star Wars.
What's inside the book?
Szostak also wrote the art books for the sequel trilogy and both earlier Mandalorian seasons, so this one is in good hands. An early review from borg.com says it goes deep on the franchise's history, including old George Lucas ideas and Ralph McQuarrie sketches for the original film that never got used until now (borg.com).
The review lists a lot of fun details. There's a first look inside an AT-AT, Zeb's trip from Rebels to live action, Kenner toys that barely made it to the screen, and a sabacc deck with Lucasfilm crew members drawn on the cards (some of them definitely cheated).
What does it reveal about Rotta the Hutt?
Quite a bit. According to borg.com, the book follows Rotta from Christian Alzmann's early baby Hutt design to the final live-action version, including how the team got a Hutt to move fast. It also covers Shakari's Second Moon, a rainy, neon city based on 1930s Chicago, and Nal Hutta, a swamp world built to remind fans of Dagobah.
Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Chiang, Alzmann, costume designer Mary Zophres and visual effects supervisor John Knoll are all interviewed. The book also points out that this was the first Star Wars movie shot entirely in the United States.
Is it worth $50?
My read is yes, if you're the kind of fan who pauses on every droid in the background. The Mandalorian and Grogu split fans this summer, but the Art of Star Wars books are where the design work gets its due, and Szostak's Mandalorian books are some of the best in the series. Finding out which McQuarrie paintings finally made it into a Star Wars movie is worth the price on its own.
If you need a Mando fix before then, the movie is streaming on Disney+, and a Halloween one-shot comic called Nightmare on Nevarro came out last week (Inside the Magic).
More Star Wars coverage is right here.
Header image is the book's cover from Abrams Books. In-article images are official stills from Lucasfilm.
