Jon Favreau knows his way around the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and he knows his way around a certain galaxy far, far away. He also knows firsthand how "Star Wars" and the MCU inform each other, beyond the fact that they have the same corporate owner, Disney. Without Favreau directing the first "Iron Man" movie, the MCU as we know it might not exist. And without Favreau to serve as the creator of "The Mandalorian," the current fleet of streaming "Star Wars" shows on Disney+ might not exist, either. Favreau was there at the outset of both Disney+ and the MCU, and he's continued playing Happy Hogan in Marvel movies long after he vacated the director's chair.

While Marvel is still keeping up with theatrical releases amid its own slate of ongoing Disney+ shows, "Star Wars" pivoted to TV in late 2019 and hasn't looked back. Speaking to Variety recently, Favreau addressed the possibility of doing a reverse Marvel and having Mando and Grogu from "The Mandalorian" cross back over to the big screen, where "Star Wars" started. Drawing on his experience with Marvel Studios, the 56-year-old filmmaker and co-showrunner said:

"There's always an opportunity when you have a set of characters and stories that people connect with that you could cross media into different areas. Marvel does it quite effectively. It's just a matter of where our time should be spent and what the appetite of the audience is. With all these stories we're telling, it definitely is a full-time job just keeping this going with what we're doing now. Television has a much different rhythm and schedule than film does."

'There's A Lot Of Overlap, And Certainly In The Fan Base'

In addition to Jon Favreau, there are many other prominent actors who have played both MCU and "Star Wars" characters, such as Paul Bettany, Rosario Dawson, Benicio del Toro, Donald Glover, Oscar Isaac, Ben Mendelsohn, Mads Mikkelsen, Lupita Nyong'o, Natalie Portman, Andy Serkis, Stellan Skarsgård, and Forest Whitaker. So there's plenty of palpable overlap onscreen between the MCU and "Star Wars" already, just as there's overlap between the various movies and TV shows set in the MCU. Favreau's experience working with Marvel and now Lucasfilm has given him some unique insight into how the two studios inform each other behind the camera as well:

"I speak to [Marvel Studios president] Kevin Feige regularly, and we're always watching each other's stuff. Clearly, I've worked in the MCU and I'm dealing with people who worked in 'Star Wars' for a long time. There's a lot of overlap, and certainly in the fan base. I think one informs the other, that's just the nature of storytelling, on the technological side as well as stylistically."

We still hear periodic updates about new "Star Wars" movies that Disney and Lucasfilm have in the pipeline, like the one Damon Lindelof is developing with "Ms. Marvel" director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. In the meantime, the two most recent "Star Wars" shows from last year, "Andor" and "Obi-Wan Kenobi," brought their lead actors, Diego Luna and Ewan McGregor, from the big screen to the small screen.

How soon we'll begin to see "Star Wars" cross-pollinate in the other direction is a question that's up in the air right now. With any luck, maybe one day you'll see Mando and Grogu coming soon to a theater near you.

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The post Star Wars and the MCU Inform Each Other According to Jon Favreau appeared first on /Film.