Pedro Pascal’s title character in the Disney+ ‘Star Wars’ series ‘The Mandalorian’ is a gunslinging lone ranger with questionable morals living on the outskirts of a faraway galaxy. And if that description sounds like another ‘Star Wars’ space cowboy, it should.
“Under the helmet, without really telling anybody... Han Solo is my hero,” Pascal said. “Han Solo is my hero.”
The actor revealed his inspirations for the Mandalorian — including Harrison Ford’s iconic, smooth-talking pilot — and shared how it feels to be part of the first live-action ‘Star Wars’ series, to debut at the launch of Disney’s inaugural streaming service.
“The character is very much built on the iconic presence of the Man With No Name in the Sergio Leone movies, played by Clint Eastwood, [and] the lone samurai in Akira Kurosawa,” he said. “It’s aesthetically and very, very much narratively built in that kind of iconic lone gunslinger/sword-wielder.”
Despite leading the charge for Disney’s entrance into the streaming wars, the ‘Game of Thrones’ alum said he felt little pressure while creating ‘The Mandalorian’, thanks to support from creator Jon Favreau and director Dave Filoni. But the significance of joining the rapidly expanding ‘Star Wars’ franchise was not lost on him.
“It was pretty amazing,” he said. “I was born in 1975, so I grew up with these movies, all of them. They made my childhood, so it’s very surreal. I think I’m still processing that I’m a part of it. Today has been kind of overwhelming, answering these questions and realising that I’m a character in the ‘Star Wars’ universe. Where’s my toy?”
‘The Mandalorian’, which also features Giancarlo Esposito, Gina Carano and Taika Waititi, will be available on Disney+ on November 12. More ‘Star Wars’ content set for the platform include a ‘Rogue One’ spin-off starring Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor, and the return of Ewan McGregor in an untitled Obi-Wan Kenobi series.
