SF WEDNESDAY: PEDRO PASCAL TO LEAD THE MANDALORIAN STAR WARS TV SERIES FOR DISNEY'S NEW STREAMING SERVICE! JOHNNY LEE MILLER TO LEAD URSULA LE GUIN'S NINE LIVES MOVIE ADAPTATION

Pedro Pascal will be the Mandalorian

You know your trusted spy is not much of a fan of Star Wars, but some of you might be interested to hear that Disney's upcoming new streaming service is preparing a TV series from that universe and they've set Pedro Pascal to topline it in the lead role! Director Jon Favreau will produce THE MANDALORIAN science fiction series for Disney + with a plan for it to air next year. Star Wars characters Jango and Boba Fett's were also from the planet of Mandalore but this one, set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order, will see Pascal playing a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic. As Variety reports, Disney + has also announced work on a prequel series on the “Rogue One” character Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna! The directors for THE MANDALORIAN episodes have already been set and they include actress Bryce Dallas Howard and Thor director Taika Waititi.

In other science fiction news today, one of the most popular sf writers Ursula  K. Le Guin, known for Earthsea saga, will see her sf novelette NINE LIVES adapted into a movie with Johnny Lee Miller and rapper Common set to lead the cast. As Deadline reports, set on a moon base for off-world drilling, the darkly comedic story follows two jaded workers whose excitement at the prospect of incoming human company is dashed when they are instead sent ten clones.