Adam Savage Behind the Scenes of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu!

Adam Savage visits the production facilities for The Mandalorian and Grogu film, where director Jon Favreau provides an extensive tour of the practical sets and prop archives. The production is housed in historic Quonset huts in what was once known as Thunder Alley, where Howard Hughes built aircraft and later hot rodders created custom cars - the same mid-century aesthetic that inspired George Lucas's original Star Wars vision. Favreau explains how having several years instead of several months for production allowed them to build extensive practical sets rather than relying heavily on the Volume technology they pioneered for the TV series. The tour reveals numerous practical effects and props, including kit-bashed elements from World War II models in the tradition of the original films, stop-motion models created by Phil Tippett's studio, and elaborate puppets like Grogu that were originally intended as simple reference models but evolved into fully functional characters. Favreau discusses how Warner Herzog convinced them to trust the practical Grogu puppet during filming, leading to its prominent use in the series. The conversation covers the production's philosophy of serving both longtime Star Wars fans with deep-cut references and newcomers who need accessible storytelling, while maintaining the tactile, lived-in quality that defines the Star Wars aesthetic through a combination of cutting-edge and deliberately low-tech approaches.