Kristin Baver talks to Pedro Pascal about his five-year journey behind the beskar as Din Djarin in The Mandalorian, sharing “There’s always new things to learn, which is unique in that you wouldn’t expect it from an armored, faceless character.”
Fans may have thought we were witnessing the end of Djarin’s story at the end of Season 2, as he removed his helmet to tearfully say goodbye to Grogu before sending the foundling to train with Luke Skywalker. Could there be more of The Mandalorian without his internet dominating counterpart in tow?
We got our answer when Djarin made a surprise reappearance in the first season of The Book of Boba Fett, struggling to return to life as a solo bounty hunter and banished by The Armorer for breaking the Creed. Ultimately reunited with Grogu on Tatooine in the season finale, Season 3 of The Mandalorian has now launched the duo on a new trajectory — to find redemption for Din in the eyes of his clan.
“As instantly disarming as that relationship is, even through Din Djarin’s initial reluctance, there’s still so much to explore as far as that parent-child dynamic is concerned,” Pascal says, carefully choosing his words so as not to give too much away about the chapters yet to come. “Who’s teaching who? Who’s protecting who? Who’s saving who? There will be more of that.”
This time, Din is driven by his desire to redeem himself, with the Darksaber in hand. “We know what Din wants: Din wants back in. He wants back into Mandalore. And what his heart needs is Grogu,” Pascal says. “It’s an interesting conflict that he steps into as far as the third season is concerned, trying to sort of understand and regain his identity in the middle of a world that introduces us to a lot more as far as Mandalore is concerned.”
As Pascal prepared to step back into the character for the fourth time this season, the even-keeled voice of the warrior, there was still plenty to learn in the process of bringing the character to life. “There’s always new things to learn, which is unique in that you wouldn’t expect it from an armored, faceless character,” he says, “partly because of the incredible stunt work that Lateef Crowder does within the suit, the physical language that Brendan Wayne contributes to the character, and this kind of community, collaborative effort of making an engaging lead character.” That extends to Djarin’s creators. “The open relationship that I have creatively with Jon and David in terms of going back into a scene and changing the tone, trying to ratchet up the tension or the sentiment. We do all this kind of surgical work,” Pascal says, putting the final touches on the dialogue, proving “the opportunity to pay attention to details or find different ways of discovering subtle ways to make a big move or to have a big impact.”
One thing remains unchanged: Wherever Din goes, we’ll go. “He’s not a talkative character,” Pascal says with a laugh. “And at the same time, it’s really important that when he’s forced to express himself, that it be really, really true within the whole picture…to ultimately keep us engaged and invited into the story. And we keep discovering new ways to do that.”
Read the interview in full at StarWars.com, and watch season three of The Mandalorian on Disney+ now.
