WHEN YOU HEARD PEDRO PASCAL WOULD PLAY

the lead role in The Mandalorian, did you say, “wow, that’s so cool”?

Yeah, I guess so. If you drooled over Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones, were wowed by Javier Peña in Narcos, applauded Whiskey in Kingsman: The Golden Circle and almost didn’t recognize him as Maxwell Lord in Wonder Woman 1984, you might have thought, “he is so versatile and has come a long way. This is the right time for him to be a lead character in the Star Wars universe.”

If you haven’t watched any of The Mandalorian’s three seasons but were head over heels in love with Joel from The Last of Us, you certainly binged the series to catch up.

Watching Pedro Pascal dancing on the table, I mean all the tables, in every talk show interview he appears, proves he is completely fun and entertaining. You may wonder how it took this long for him to become famous.

Well, let’s talk about Mando. How did John Favreau know that we needed a cute nickname for Din Djarin even before he knew the audience would love him?

In the first season, we only hear the voice and a bit of an Oberyn Martell walk. Director Deborah Chow talked about the challenge of creating emotional complexity when the main character is fully covered in armor, and we never see his face.

In Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian, Chow states, “[we] work[ed] with the actor to use the physicality, to use a head turn. A lot of action was about stillness. Which was about…the very same stillness when something significant is happening.

You can feel that everything stopped for a moment. If there’s a gesture, it’s a very meaningful gesture.”

During the first season, we see a rigid character true to the Mandalorian creed. He’s an extremely talented warrior who seems to have no emotions and no weak points, treating Grogu as cargo. Along the way, he gets attached to Grogu, unbelievably cute Grogu, and he starts to develop a caring relationship with him. We began to wonder, will he ever show his face? Will he have any scars? Would they put heavy makeup on his face to make him look hard, unpleasant or unlikeable?

Pedro Pascal says in an interview with Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian, “[t]he idea that he is relatable, we’re all kind of covered in our own armor and terrified to take it off. And, that’s the thing that crosses him over into a character that we all want to follow.”

Director Rick Famuyiwa adds, “[h]ow [do you] convey that sense of connection with someone when you can’t see his eyes? I, as a storyteller and as an audience, I want to see that. I want to see who is behind the mask.”

In the Season 1 finale, when he takes off his mask to survive an injury, it’s just Pedro. You see that charismatic human being. Many hearts were beating fast in that moment and looked forward to the next season to watch how his relationship with Grogu would evolve.

In the second season, we see more of Mando’s personality. His relationship with Grogu gave Pedro Pascal the nickname “daddy” which blew up on social media. We see more of Mando making exceptions regarding his mission related to Grogu, but also to help friends and other people he knows along the way. Although his first answer is always no, he can’t help but be a solidary soldier to those suffering injustice.

In the third season, we see a lot more action. Mando’s martial arts improved quite a lot. I’m sure many people are waiting for behind the scenes footage and interviews to learn about it. Especially when Pedro revealed in Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian that he had a lot of dangerous jobs before and never got seriously injured. However, in the scene where he takes off his helmet, he had been injured prior and had been to the hospital. Pascal says, “I stepped out of the makeup trailer looking at my sides and walked into a piece of plywood. I have never gone to the hospital for work before”.

John Favreau added, “[h]e” was made up. It was the scene after the explosion. He was bleeding from his ears and covered with blood. So, we got to the emergency room, and they were like, ‘Let them in. This guy is on death’s door.’”

BY REBECA NISHI