Pedro Pascal and Katee Sackhoff are among the additional names who will appear at this year’s PaleyFest LA, which kicks off on Friday night with a panel and screening devoted to Disney+’s “The Mandalorian.”
The Paley Center for Media’s 40th annual PaleyFest LA takes place this year between Friday, March 31, through Tuesday, April 4, and features seven current TV series representing a wide variety of genres: Disney+’s“TheMandalorian,” ABC’s“Abbott Elementary,” Paramount Network’s“Yellowstone,” ABC’s“Grey’s Anatomy,” CBS’“TheLateLateShow with James Corden,” Showtime’s “Yellowjackets”and Amazon Prime Video’s“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” The PaleyFest will mark the end of “Late Late Show” and “Maisel” during those respective panels.
Pascal and Sackoff are new additions to “The Mandalorian” panel on Friday, which also includes exec producers Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni and RickFamuyiwa. Also newly added to the event is Reggie Watts and the “Late Late Show” band to the Corden event. The Paley Fest will return to the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, where the event has taken place in recent years.
“We’re very fortunate when you think about some of the global phenomenons that will be on that stage,” said Rene Reyes, the Paley Center’s VP of public programming and festivals. Reyes noted that “The Mandalorian” was actually set to be a part of the 2020 event, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “This is the first time they’re back at the festival since we had to postpone that event,” Reyes said. “So it’s a nice homecoming for us.”
The PaleyFest returned to an in-person event in 2022 after having to go virtual due to COVID. Reyes said he was happy to see the event back in full strength in time to celebrate its 40th anniversary this year. “Every year it’s this like puzzle of looking what’s happening in television,” he said. “The only agenda here at the festival is to celebrate creative excellence. What we want to have is a representation of television at this very moment. We eventually got down to to the list that we have right now, which is to seven incredible series across the spectrum of television.”
The PaleyFest has been around long before Emmy FYC events became a thing, but because of its timing just as Emmy campaigning gets underway, it can now play an important role in campaigns. TV Academy members, for example, have been invited to the “Late Late Show” panel on Sunday, which will double as an FYC event.
“We were doing this before there was the FYC circuit in television today,” Reyes notes. “For most of our 40 years there really wasn’t an FYC circuit. Now it aligns with the timing. But it’s not anything that we think about when planning the festival. It just happens. I do think the PaleyFest helped shape what FYC events became today.”
The PaleyFest also pre-dated the opening of a physical Paley Center in Beverly Hills (originally known as the Museum of TV & Radio), and now continues to keep the org’s presence in Southern California even though there is no longer a physical Paley Center here (having shut down that Beverly Hills location in 2020).
“I think I speak for the Paley Center when I say, a thanks to the audience,” Reyes said. “Television fans are so passionate about the shows that they love. But the fact that they’ve shown up across these four decades, we’re so grateful. This is the festival designed to celebrate that connection with with TV audiences.”
