'The Mandalorian': How Disney+ 'Star Wars' spinoff amps up Western grit with guns and droids

– Pedro Pascal channeled one film icon, Clint Eastwood, as he entered the world of another – "Star Wars" – in "The Mandalorian." the highest-profile series on the new Disney+ streaming service.Executive producer Jon Favreau pointed him toward Akira Kurosawa’s Samurai films and Eastwood's spaghetti Westerns to prepare for his role as the title character, a stoic, helmeted bounty-hunting loner on the far edge of the "Star Wars" universe. Favreau and executive producer Dave Filoni kept a tight lid on "Mandalorian" plot points last month at a screening of 27 minutes of footage from the series, a limited peek designed to avoid spoilers – or early criticism.More:New 'Mandalorian' trailer drops more hints about Disney+ 'Star Wars' seriesThe basics: "The Mandalorian" takes place about five years after the Rebel Alliance overthrew the Empire in 1983's "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi," and more than 20 years before the rise of the First Order in 2015's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."The show opens with Pascal's title character – whose name has yet to be revealed, echoing Eastwood's Man with No Name – traveling to a remote village where he catches a fugitive in a dive bar that pays homage to the "Star Wars" cantina scene, with a much darker tone.