Twain’s Huckleberry For Disney’s The Mandalorian, Anyone?

The Mandalorian is one of the most popular shows right now. Starring the very amazing Pedro Pascal in the titular role, the show was created by Jon Favreau while also serving as the director. Currently on the pre-production process for the third season, the show is both critically acclaimed as well as popular with the audiences.

Project Huckleberry:

But did you know that his immensely popular Star Wars project was originally filmed under the moniker of Project Huckleberry?

This Disney+ show follows the Mandalorian, a bounty hunter named Din Djarin – and his companion Grogu – a force sensitive child. Grogu is none other than the one who is mostly called Baby Yoda by the viewers! As they travel, they come across other Mandalorians, Jedis as well as members of the Imperial Remnant.

As we have seen with Marvel, which is also a part of Disney, the Star Wars show is also very secretive when it comes to letting anyone know things before time. There are obviously many systems put in place to ensure that things don’t get out in the public, unless planned.

As we have seen, many of the actors who had guest appearance on the show was advertised beforehand. Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano and Temuera Morrison’s Boba Fett returning to the franchise was known by people before it happened.

But at the same time, the return of the character of a young Luke Skywalker – played by Mark Hamill himself, only de-aged by technology was a very well guarded secret. Similarly, no one knew Baby Yoda would be a part of the show until the first episode was premiered.

The Mandalorian World of Secrets:

Which is why, The Mandalorian first began filming – the creators and show runners of the series thought to keep it a secret and used the title of Project Huckleberry. This is not the first time that a working title was used to keep the project a secret. Many big budget Marvel as well as Star Wars movies had done it in the past.

Although sometimes, working titles are retained and chosen as the final title – like in Cloverfield; that was not the case with this Disney series. As many would remember, the first Avengers movie, which was finally titled as The Avengers, had the working title of Group Hug. And most projects have some connection to their working titles – so what is it in the case of The Mandalorian?

The Mandalorian, and Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn – what do they have in common? Well the first thing that comes to mind is obviously, all that adventure, the travelling. Similarly, both Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is frequently viewed as in conflict for the title of Great American Novel. And The Mandalorian, in spite of the fact that using a totally different tone, depends mostly on the quintessentially American custom of Western movies.

While its obviously possible that the title was chosen to throw people off of what was really the project about; we can still see these very on point similarities between the two. And as far as working titles and fake monikers go – Project Huckleberry suits The Mandalorian pretty well.

For now, re-watch and enjoy the first two seasons of The Mandalorian. And wait for Disney+ to drop the third season of the series.