New ‘Star Wars’ series stars Lebo alum Ming-Na Wen
Spoiler alert for some plot points in ‘The Mandalorian’ season two
You’d be hard-pressed to find an actor in Hollywood with more Disney bona fides than Ming-Na Wen.
The Mt. Lebanon High School and Carnegie Mellon alum voiced the titular character in the original “Mulan” film, spent almost a decade portraying Melinda May in “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D” and has recently joined the “Star Wars” TV universe as mercenary-turned-BobaFett-ally Fennec Shand in “The Mandalorian.”
Now she has her own “Star
Wars” Disney+ show as well.
Disney announced Monday that Wen will reprise her role as Fennec alongside Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett in “The Book of Boba Fett,” which is set for a December 2021 release. The series’s executive producers will be “The Mandalorian” creator Jon Favreau, Robert Rodriguez (“Sin City”) and “Star Wars” veteran (and fellow Mt. Lebanon High alum) Dave Filoni.
This show was not among the 10 new “Star Wars” projects Disney unveiled during its industryshaking virtual presentation for investors on Dec. 10. Instead, Disney opted to tease “The Book of Boba Fett” in an end-credits
scene during the season two finale of “The Mandalorian” and made it official Monday.
The announcement of the Boba Fett- centric series came four days after the death of Jeremy Bulloch, who played the famous bounty hunter in “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi.
Not much is known about the plot specifics of “The Book of Boba Fett” yet, though Favreau did offer a few hints during a Monday “Good Morning America” interview. Favreau clarified that “Boba Fett” is already in production and is an entirely separate series from season three of “The Mandalorian,” which is currently in pre-production.
He also talked about meeting Filoni at Skywalker Ranch in California when he was tapped to voice Pre Vizsla — another Mandalorian — in Filoni’s animated “Star Wars: Clone Wars” series. The two are now working on “Ahsoka,” the RosarioDawson led Disney+ show about one of Filoni’s most beloved “Clone Wars” creations, Ahsoka Tano.
On social media, Wen seemed psyched to be fully cementing her place in a galaxy far, far away.
“Is it weird that I’m geeking out about my own life right now,?” she posted Monday. “Thank you from the bottom of my geek girl’s heart to @ Jon_ Favreau @dave_filoni @Rodriguez for the best Xmas ever!!”
Good luck to the rest of Wen’s family trying to top her being gifted her own “Star Wars” show this Christmas.