The scripts for The Mandalorian season 4 may have already been written by Jon Favreau, but the WGA strike has reportedly affected their production. The WGA strike began on May 2, 2023, as a result of negotiations for fairer wages for WGA writers reaching an impasse. Due to this, many Hollywood productions across the board have been affected as writers search for a justified increase in payment for their invaluable contributions to the film and TV industry.Jon Favreau confirmed he had written the scripts for The Mandalorian season 4 before the third season had finished airing, but there have still been consistent reports production will be affected by the writers’ strike. Deadline reported production was expected to begin as early as September 2023, but sources advised this would be delayed. Further reports from Production Weekly have confirmed this, indicating delays from September to November. These are presumably provisional, and it would not be surprising to see the delay extended.Related: Writers Guild Strike 2023 Explained: What It Means For Your Favorite TV Shows
Why The Writers’ Strike Is Affecting The Mandalorian Season 4 (When Scripts AreFinished)
Should filming be delayed, this naturally raises the question of why The Mandalorian is being affected at all given the scripts have already been completed. The answer comes from the often unspoken roles a writer plays on set. Naturally, a writer’s first priority comes in completing the scripts for any given film or TV episode. However, writers oftentimes spend a vast amount of time on set with the rest of the crew members for many reasons, something which the WGA strike means will not be the case across hundreds of productions.
TV writers in particular are expected to be endlessly flexible in terms of their roles. They are constantly responding to small, unforeseeable changes on set; actors sustaining injuries, the interaction between actors sparking a new idea, a change in the weather, set designs, or the blocking from a director’s instructions taking a new direction. If a writer is not present on set, this could snowball into plenty of production issues down the line.
Matters are even more complicated for Favreau, who is both writer and showrunner of The Mandalorian. He’d still be able to be on set as showrunner, but there would be strict rules about what he could and could not do, and there would be a significant danger of him accidentally breaking the writers’ strike. Even worse, though, Favreau could find himself overseeing production, sensing he could do something even better but unable to realize his developing vision. Given this is the case, it’s easy to see why The Mandalorian season 4 could face longer delays due to the WGA strike should a compromise not be reached soon.
