Pedro Pascal is The Mandalorian, Din Djarin, in the Disney+ series but he’s not the only actor who plays the character with Brendan Wayne (grandson of John Wayne) and Lateef Crowder filling in for stunts, and the actor has discussed how their mannerisms have influenced his own performance.
Earlier this summer during Star Wars Celebration, Pascal helped kick off The Mandalorian presentation by welcoming Wayne and Crowder to the stage, praising their performances and introducing them to the crowd as the show’s “other two daddies.” Later, EW sat down with Pascal one on one, and he opened up about collaborating with Wayne and Crowder — and how their mannerisms have influenced his own performance.
“It’s been a collaborative process from the beginning,” Pascal explained. “I was given the opportunity to establish physical specificity in some ways at the start of the show, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t observing and picking up from what they’re doing and handing over so much of it as well. They do the heavy lifting.”
Pascal added that he and Crowder have known each other for years, having worked together on previous films like Kingsman: The Golden Circle and Triple Frontier. “When I knew he was going to be putting on the suit for this, I was like, ‘Yes! I’m gonna look so cool!'” Pascal said with a laugh.
The Mandalorian season 3 won’t premiere until 2023, and Pascal remained tight-lipped about what Din Djarin and Grogu might be up to when the show returns. (Last time we saw the unconventional father-son pair, they had reunited in the finale of The Book of Boba Fett.) But in the almost three years since The Mandalorian premiered, Pascal said he’s been overwhelmed by the response to Din and Grogu’s adventures.
“I think it was so easy to trust how much Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni love Star Wars and [how they’re] taking that love and developing new ways of telling Star Wars stories,” Pascal explained. “That’s a big safety net. But there were things, like, will this character be compelling? Will people want to follow him through these adventures? Will the richness of this parent-child relationship really reach everyone? So to see all of that surpass expectation is really exciting.”
Listen to the full interview on on EW’s new Star Wars podcast, Dagobah Dispatch.
