Extraction director Sam Hargrave is joining The Mandalorian season 2 – and is set to take the action in a galaxy far, far away “to the next level.”
“They actually came to me,” Hargrave told Collider of the process that saw one of the world’s leading action directors – who previously contributed to Avengers: Endgame and Deadpool 2 – joining the Star Wars universe as a second-unit director.
“It’s crazy. I was in the middle of post [-production on Extraction] and I’m editing my movie and I got a call from my buddy Colin Wilson, one of the line producers, who said, ‘Jon [Favreau] and the people over here are looking for someone to bring into the team or add to the family who has experience with action.’”
Hargrave, though, admitted his role isn’t the largest: “It was just to bring a little extra perspective, add a few things, things I’ve learned while working on superhero movies, little tricks which make the performances easier and using visual effects to enhance certain things.”
On The Mandalorian season 2, Hargreave teased, “The next season is really, really cool. The way the story arcs is really cool. So we tried to have the action represent that and take it to the next level. I think we did that.”
Hargrave, perhaps best now known to millions as the guy who pulled off that ridiculous one-take action sequence in Extraction, is sure to add an extra element to Mando’s return. Arguably, Star Wars’ action – Throne Room fight in Star Wars: The Last Jedi aside – has been one of the things it’s been left playing catch-up on this century.
Hargrave’s undoubted expertise, then, could help bring the level of seat-of-your-pants stunts to even being the gold standard, at least on television – and a possible reinvention of what to expect from Star Wars fight scenes. Darth Maul, eat your heart out.
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