From off-Broadway to Game of Thrones to the new face (metaphorically speaking) of Star Wars, Pedro Pascal has come a long way. What’s next?
It’s an unpredictable profession, acting. You never know when you’re next job is coming, let alone the one that’ll be your breakthrough.
For Pedro Pascal, who labored for years doing off-Broadway graft, his break came playing Oberyn Martell on Game of Thrones. Talking to Variety, showrunner David Benioff remembered what about Pascal stood out during the casting process: “He figures out who the character really is and then he portrays that man, scouring off all falsehood. Plus, he’s really f—ing handsome.”
After his scene-stealing season on Thrones, the Chilean-American didn’t rest on his laurels and quickly moved on to more prominent parts, including as the title character in The Mandalorian. He talked about his uptick in fortune with IndieWire, drilling down on the unique challenges of playing Din Djarin, who almost never removes his helmet. “The entire idea of getting to inhabit somebody who, since they were a child, no human has seen their face – it was almost impossible to imagine the level of nakedness and exposure, the overwhelming paralysis,” he said. “I can count on my one hand the lines the character had. On the other hand, he’s desperately trying to hide in a room without a mask with his face exposed. It was cool and it was strange.”
That was where we left the character at the end of season 2, when he removed his helmet to say goodbye to little Baby Yoda. “At that point, I knew what it would mean for everyone to experience that kind of threshold between the character and the Child,” Pascal said. “We follow this story for two seasons; there’s this bond that grows between the two of them. He tries to not let himself soften, but he cannot help himself. This practical story logic brought something else about that moment, what it would mean to touch his face.”
"I find it fascinating playing with that. We don’t know what he ends up being. He took his helmet off in a room full of people."
But we’re all very curious to find out who he ends up being; The Mandalorian season 3 can’t come quick enough. “I am told what’s happening and what the plan is,” Pascal said, “but I can’t share it. They are in the expansion of this world, where there are so many unexpected surprises and timelines that are going to be dealt with. If the character were to cross over into these worlds, it will be utilized in a way that isn’t meant to be expected. I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise of whether or not characters from the show we already know are crossing over.”
When Pascal mentions “the expansion of this world,” he’s probably talking about the approximately 500 new Star Wars shows Disney is currently making, some of which will interact directly with The Mandalorian. The Star Wars universe is indeed about to get a lot bigger, and it was never small to begin with. As long as Mando and Baby Yoda have a place in it, we’ll be watching.
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