'The Mandalorian' Stars Explain Exactly What Makes The Show So Great

Let’s be real - Star Wars fans cannot get enough of The Mandalorian. And who can blame them? The show has had two amazing seasons, and the character of Din Djarin, The Mandalorian himself, has cameoed in The Book Of Boba Fett with many saying his time on screen was the best part of that show, too. Oh, also there’s some weird green alien boy that everybody loves or something. 

Safe to say then, that people are hyped for season three which will be coming to Disney+ in February 2023. At the Star Wars Celebration, a select few fans were treated to a sneak peak trailer behind closed doors (which naturally, has found its way online since) including us at GAMINGbible. No spoilers here, but it’s shaping up to be very good indeed.

Every wondered what a life-size Razor Crest from The Mandalorian would look like? Well, look no further than the video below.

We were also lucky enough to be able to talk to stars of the show like Pedro Pascal, Carl Weathers, Giancarlo Esposito and director Deborah Chow about what fans can expect from season three and why the show stands out so much. The latter of which was keen to highlight the difference between working on a show like The Mandalorian, and Obi-Wan Kenobi which is currently airing on Disney’s streaming platform.

“It was quite a different experience,” says Chow. “With The Mandalorian, we’re in a new time period and with a lot of new characters so there was a lot of freedom, whereas [with Obi-Wan Kenobi] we’re with these very iconic characters right in the middle of both [prequel and original] trilogies on either side, so there was a very different weight in terms of the responsibility. The other main difference was having an actor that has a face and eyes - it was very exciting!”

When Disney bought Star Wars from George Lucas back in 2012, the future of the franchise was quite unknown. Following the (at best) lukewarm reception of the sequel trilogy, moving the focus to episodic shows and streaming can certainly be seen as a calculated risk by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. Pedro Pascal explained his thoughts on where The Mandalorian started, and where it is now.

“To be in early conversations with Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni in terms of the way they had been talking about this and developing this for such a long time - to get invited in and to see this writer’s room that was covered wall-to-wall with story illustrations of the first season, and to experience not too many years of streaming services finding new ways to tell stories and to discover that they were going to do that with Star Wars was kind of unbelievable. The way that it’s worked, I want to say I’m surprised but my expectations continue to be surpassed.”

The Mandalorian can be credited with being the starting point for at least two other spin-off shows in the form of The Book Of Boba Fett (starring the incorrigible Temuera Morrison) and Star Wars: Ahsoka which only just started filming. But what of its other popular characters? Series antagonist Moff Gideon is undoubtedly a fan favourite and the actor behind him, Giancarlo Esposito, would love to explore his story in a spin-off show.

“I relish playing the baddie in this particular franchise,” explained Esposito. “I do think with all the shows they’re doing there’s always a hope there may be something else. Like, look, I do a show called Better Call Saul, I’ve done Breaking Bad before it and always hoped for the Rise Of Gus. Will that sequel ever come about? Who knows! Maybe it could. You see all these characters spinning out from our original Mandalorian getting their own shows which is fantastic. Would that ever happen for Moff Gideon? I think you could! The hero is only as strong as the anti-hero playing into that hero’s journey. The anti-hero is the fallen hero who could be redeemed! That fall from grace can be a rise from grace when the right opportunity presents itself.”

Giancarlo isn’t the only one who’d like to explore more of the Star Wars universe. Carl Weathers, who plays Greef Karga in The Mandalorian, spoke to us about the possibility of one day directing his own Star Wars movie and, as you’d expect, he’s very keen on the idea.