Pedro Pascal Jokes That He Loves ‘The Mandalorian’ Because He’s a Commitment-Phobe

One of the things about Star Wars’ massive live-action hit The Mandalorian that probably makes it easy for an actor to say yes to the commitment is that its protagonist, Din Djarin, is committed to a life where he wears a helmet the majority of the time—meaning that there isn’t much face time in the show. For actor Pedro Pascal, that’s what excites him still about being the Mandalorian himself.

In a new Star Wars cover story for the June issue of Vanity Fair, fans were gifted with a look at the upcoming slate of projects set in a galaxy far, far away, and with it came some insight into the shows we’ve come to love. Pascal was one of the first people to see the Volume, a technological marvel that helps the crew behind Star Wars bring to life beautiful landscapes and scenes on different planets, all within the same space in Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles.

For Pedro Pascal, though, he seemed to know that the Volume and the technology involved was going to be a success. “I knew that it was an ace in the hole. I just knew,” Pascal said. “And I haven’t been surprised by any of it. Maybe I’ve been a little surprised by how compelling the Mandalorian can be, because he’s faceless.”

He went on to talk about why he loves playing the Mandalorian, poking fun at himself. “Maybe I’m a little bit of a commitment-phobe,” he said, “because the coolness of it really excites me, and the life span of it really intimidates me.” But the role, being mainly voice-based, does make scheduling easy enough to allow Pascal to accept other projects—like the upcoming HBO series The Last of Us, where he’s playing Joel Miller, or movies like The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent—because he can come in to record his voice work for Din while a double plays Din in the suit.

The joy of Din Djarin

I love Din Djarin very much, and he’s constantly a fascinating character to unpack. As we saw in the first two seasons of The Mandalorian and into The Book of Boba Fett, Din Djarin is someone who is willing to unpack his own religious trauma and what his Mandalorian clan told him was “the way.” He’s willing to look at his own life and his devotion to never taking his mask off, and fight against it. He took his helmet off to protect Grogu. He took his helmet off to say goodbye to the creature who became his adoptive son, and I don’t think he regrets that.

And now, he has even more to unpack with his new status as the ruler of Mandalore and having Grogu back in his life, so the fact that Pascal continues to come back for the role, especially because as he says maybe he’s a “commitment phobe,” is wonderful. I hope it means we’ll continue to unpack the relationship between Din and Grogu and we’ll see just how much the two work together and grow in the third season (set to come out either in late 2022 or early 2023).

(featured image: Lucasfilm)