"The Mandalorian" might be temporarily gone from Disney Plus after wrapping up its second season in December, but the saga of the notorious bounty hunter and his precious cargo of The Child (AKA Grogu) is still fresh in our geeky minds.
One of the obvious improvements over the premiere season were the jaw-dropping special effects witnessed throughout the sophomore outing, where the fine line between illusion and reality was often blurred.
To honor the cinematic sorcery, the wizards at Industrial Light and Magic recently released a revealing sizzle reel pulling back the curtain on some of their best digital tricks for "The Mandalorian."
Check out a 3-minute sample of ILM's creativity for Season 2 in the video above and see why their talent garnered 13 Visual Effects Society Award nominations.
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The show’s special effects work was conjured up in all five of ILM's studios (San Francisco, Singapore, Vancouver, London, and Sydney) as well as a complement of outside vendors working under ILM's direct supervision.
Related: The best Disney Plus movies and shows for Star Wars fans
In total, "The Mandalorian's" eight episodes required nearly 5,000 visual effects shots on top of ILM's real-time effects produced for use during principal photography. Their impressive efforts employed a blend of different techniques, from miniatures, virtual sets, and motion control to traditional puppeteering, advanced animatronics, and photo-real CG characters.
Even if you want to keep ILM's secrets on "The Mandalorian" Season 2 hidden, there’s no denying the team’s boundless imagination, innovation, and attention to detail. This is the way!
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