Jon Favreau Talks About Turning Minor ‘Star Wars’ Characters Into Stories in ‘The Mandalorian’

Jon Favreau has spoken about how The Mandalorian was built around an idea of taking small or forgotten characters from the Star Wars universe and turning them into fully developed figures with real stories.

Favreau explained that part of what made the series special for him was the freedom to look back at older Star Wars material and pick characters that were never fully explored. Instead of focusing only on major heroes or villains, the team looked at background characters that fans might remember only briefly from earlier films. He said this approach helped connect the new show to long-time fans while still keeping the story fresh.

He gave the example of how even simple background designs or toy-like characters could become something meaningful. He said, “We took characters that may have been overlooked, that we know from our childhoods, but haven’t been defined. And we took those characters, and like in the case of Kuiil, and we took an Ugnaught which was not… the peg warmers, the figures that nobody wanted.”

He continued by explaining how they tried to give these characters depth and personality. He added, “Can you bring a story to those, and could you dimensionalize them? And I think it was a nice way to connect with what people’s memory was, but not to interfere with what people’s understanding of the main characters is.”

In The Mandalorian, this idea became a major part of the storytelling style. Characters like Kuiil, who originally existed as a background alien species in the Star Wars universe, were turned into important emotional parts of the story. Instead of feeling like random additions, they became key figures who shaped the journey of the main character, Din Djarin.

One reason audiences responded strongly to this approach is because it made the galaxy feel larger and more alive. Fans of Star Wars often enjoy spotting small references or familiar faces in the background, but The Mandalorian went further by giving those elements real purpose. It created the feeling that even the smallest character in the universe might have a meaningful life and history.

This approach also made the series feel more personal. Rather than focusing only on large-scale Jedi stories or galaxy-wide conflicts, the show often zoomed in on smaller moments and individual characters. That helped viewers connect more closely with the story, especially in quieter scenes where trust, survival, and identity were central themes.

Favreau said the team built a group of “misfit” characters who may have once felt like background jokes or simple designs. But in the show, they became fully developed personalities with their own motivations. This helped balance nostalgia with new storytelling, something many fans appreciated.

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