The Mandalorian season 2 has finished filming – and a key character is returning

The Mandalorian season 2 has finished filming ahead of the show's previously announced October return. The live-action Star Wars TV show on Disney Plus was already shooting again back when season 1 premiered in November 2019.

Director of photography Baz Iodine posted "that's a wrap on season 2!" on Instagram over the past weekend, from an episode directed by The Clone Wars creator Dave Filoni (not necessarily the season finale, as noted by Lucasfilm's Phil Szostak).

Star Gina Carano, who plays Cara Dune in the show, posted a similar thing on Instagram. It was largely expected that the actress would return in season 2, but with no official cast announced for the show, this is technically confirmation that her character is back for the second set of episodes:

The past week has been rife with eyebrow-raising news about who's directing The Mandalorian's second set of episodes, with Ford V Ferrari director James Mangold shooting down a report that he's working on the show (he could end up directing Indiana Jones 5, though).

We can expect some big name directors in season 2, given that season 1 had the likes of Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok) and Bryce Dallas Howard among its ranks. But so far, we only know that Filoni is directing at least one episode, and that creator Jon Favreau is responsible for one as well.

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Why the early finish?

You've probably figured out why The Mandalorian season 2 has finished filming so long before its intended launch on Disney Plus already: this is an effects-heavy show, so there's no doubt months of work to be done by the visual effects specialists at ILM before the episodes start rolling out.

If you want to see something amazing, you should check out how The Mandalorian's effects were created. The virtual sets of the show give it a similar quality level to a Star Wars movie without compromising the sense of place you get from the planets we see Mando and Baby Yoda visit. Take a look at the short film below for more on how they did it:

Season 2 arrives in October, sandwiched between two other big Disney Plus originals: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (August) and WandaVision (December).