Pedro Pascal’s 6 best roles in movies and TV, ranked

3. Pedro Pascal as…Din Djarin in The Mandalorian

This is the big one. Starting in 2019, Pedro Pascal became the actor at the head of The Mandalorian, the first-ever live-action Star Wars TV series.

This is a huge deal. Obviously, Star Wars is a ginormous brand. But they’d never done a live-action show before. And when they do, the guy they went to was Pedro Pascal. As Mandalorian Din Djarin, he broke new ground and has secured himself a place in TV history.

It helps that the show is quite good. Din Djarin is a taciturn, deadly Mandalorian, a member of an ancient warrior race who goes around the galaxy collecting bounties to support his small conclave of kinsman who survived the massacre of their planet years ago. Along the way, he meets an adorable Force-sensitive scamp who we would learn is named Grogu, but who we will always call Baby Yoda.

Pairing the gruff Din Djarin with the precocious Baby Yoda was a brilliant move. It’s hilarious watching Din suddenly responsible for this tiny creature, but there’s also a lot of pathos as the two forge a real connection.

The story has grown in the telling. There are two seasons of The Mandalorian out now, both of them out on Disney+. The third will find Din Djarin as the ruler of the planet Mandalore, even if he came by the title on accident.

The only bad thing about this role for Pedro Pascal is that his face is covered by Din Djarin’s helmet 95% of the time, so even though he’s on a huge show, some people may not even realize it’s him. That wasn’t a problem with his breakout role: