Even though The Mandalorian season four has yet to be officially announced, apparently it’s already being delayed due to the writer’s strike. Deadline reports that production on the show was previously scheduled to begin in September but that’s now likely to be pushed back.
This, of course, makes a lot of sense since of the five Star Wars shows currently on the calendar, The Mandalorian is the one furthest away from release. Jon Favreau said he’d already written all of it but that’s just the beginning of a long process. Beyond that, we know that Tony Gilroy, showrunner on Andor, has left his duties on that show in solidarity with his writers, and that show was already months into production. And while there’s no official word on Skeleton Crew, The Acolyte or Ahsoka, obviously those shows will be impacted too, as they are all but certain to be released before season four of The Mandalorian.
Where does each show stand? Well, Ahsoka is currently scheduled for release in August so that’s got to be well into post-production. Skeleton Crew reportedly finished filming several months ago so while there may not be much active writing happening, there’s still creation happening. It’s possible it would do something out of solidarity, such as what happened on Andor. The Acolyte is in an even more precarious position. At Star Wars Celebration earlier this year, showrunner Leslye Headland said production on her High Republic-set series was wrapping in May, so whatever decision is made there, it’s very close to the end. Would the studio push through just to be done? Or would it stop to send a message? We have no idea but we’ll be watching.
io9 reached out to Lucasfilm for clarification on these shows but did not hear back as of publication. We’ll update the story if or when we do.
Either way though, the writers strike is impacting productions everywhere, and when it impacts projects that are especially crucial to a company, like Star Wars is to Disney, that’s when it’s working. Almost like a little band of rebels standing up against a bigger, more intimidating enemy.