Set three years after Return of the Jedi, the Disney+ Star Wars series The Mandalorian
follows a lone gunslinger who works outside of the law.
The cast features actors from the world of Game of Thrones, the X-Men universe, and even
the Rocky movies.
Here's how you might know them.
From the moment that Pedro Pascal's Prince Oberyn Martel strutted into King's Landing,
Game of Thrones gained a new fan-favorite character.
"You shouldn't drink before a fight."
"You learn this during your years in the fighting pits?
I always drink before a fight."
As the "Red Viper," Pascal was able to leave an extremely memorable mark on the series,
especially with his grisly death.
Pascal has also had a slew of minor roles in television, including playing Nathan Landry
in The Good Wife.
He also played Javier Peña in the Netflix original series Narcos.
As for noteworthy movies, Pascal appeared in the action flick Kingsman: The Golden Circle
and the drama If Beale Street Could Talk.
At 2019's Star Wars Celebration in Chicago, Pascal briefly touched on his upcoming role
in The Mandalorian, in which he plays the protagonist, saying,
"The Mandalorian is a mysterious lone gunman in the outer reaches of the galaxy.
Some might say that he has questionable moral character, which is in line with some of our
best Westerns, some good samurai [films]...and he's a badass."
In this day and age, it's not uncommon for famous MMA fighters to make the transition
to acting.
Add Gina Carano to the list.
Carano's first leading role came in 2011, when she played Mallory Kane in the adrenaline-pumping
action movie Haywire.
Since then, she has played minor parts in a couple of blockbuster smashes, including
2013's Fast & Furious 6 and 2016's Deadpool.
In The Mandalorian, Carano will be playing Cara Dune, an ex-rebel shock trooper who is
apparently having some trouble reintegrating into society after the last big star war.
Although not much is known of her character, Carano took to her Instagram and shared the
first image of her character, commenting about her time at Star Wars Celebration.
She wrote,
"I can't describe the energy I felt...It was incredible and I'm so grateful for all of
you and the crazy awesome support you showed us.
I'm so stoked...that was epic."
Carl Weathers is a Hollywood icon, with a well-rounded acting resume of notable roles,
including Apollo Creed in the Rocky franchise and Dillon in Predator.
In the '90s, he embodied the hilarious golf-legend-turned-coach Chubbs Peterson in Adam Sandler's timeless
comedy, Happy Gilmore.
In The Mandalorian, Weathers will be playing the role of Greef Carga.
Although the details of his character are still under wraps, the actor took the podium
at this year's Star Wars Celebration in Chicago to offer some insight into his role, saying,
"He's kind of the head of this guild of bounty hunters.
There seems to be a lot of kind of nefarious people.
He's looking for someone to go after a product for a client that's very valuable."
A native of Copenhagen, Denmark, Giancarlo Esposito has played major parts in huge television
series and lent his trademark, silky-smooth voice and charisma to several successful motion
pictures.
He is perhaps most recognized for his role as Gustavo Fring, the drug-kingpin employer
of Walter White in AMC's Breaking Bad.
Like most facets of The Mandalorian, Esposito's role is still largely unknown.
However, in an interview with Collider, the Emmy-nominated actor briefly opened up about
his time on set, saying,
"I've got a great costume.
We got great set pieces.
I'm not giving anything away because [Jon Favreau] is an artist, truly an artist.
[He was] working with George Lucas on this particular piece and making it a piece that
we can really relate to now in our world that we're in."
Can you imagine anyone but Harrison Ford playing the iconic role of Han Solo in 1977's A New
Hope?
Several higher-profile actors were considered for the part before Ford - at the time a relative
unknown - landed it.
One of those actors was Nick Nolte, the star of 1977's The Deep.
In an interview with MTV, Nolte admitted that he felt he would have been, quote, "kind of
a goofy Star Wars guy."
Now, as it turns out, he will get to be a goofy Star Wars guy in The Mandalorian, though
the nature of his role is still unclear.
Nolte has built up quite a respectable acting resume over the years, as proven by his three
Oscar nominations.
He is perhaps most recognized for his role as Jack Cates in 1982's 48 Hrs. and its 1990
sequel, Another 48 Hrs.
"You're done.
End of story."
Although he is now well into the back nine of his career, Nolte is hardly slowing down,
appearing over the past decade in projects like 2015's A Walk in the Woods, and 2018's
The Padre.
Fans of the CW's Supernatural will no doubt recognize Emily Swallow, who played the seductive,
archangel-slaying Amara, a.k.a. the Darkness.
The 39-year-old actress has also held a number of minor roles in various television shows,
including The Mentalist and How to Get Away with Murder.
Her big screen debut came in 2008's The Lucky Ones, briefly sharing the screen with Rachel
McAdams and Tim Robbins.
Although details about her character in The Mandalorian remain shrouded in mystery, Swallow's
twitter feed suggests that she had a great time on set, particularly while working with
a special co-star.
She wrote,
"Working with @TaikaWaititi on one of my episodes of #TheMandalorian fulfilled a very weird
and off-kilter dream of mine."
After directing the wildly successful Thor: Ragnarok, Taika Waititi became a household
name for fans of comic book movies.
In addition to lending his voice to the hilariously dry Kronan warrior, Korg, Waititi also made
a splash in the acting world with his role in the 2014 vampire comedy, What We Do in
the Shadows, which he also co-directed and produced.
As it turns out, Waititi, who will also be directing an episode of the series, will be
voicing the droid IG-11 in The Mandalorian.
Star Wars fans will recognize this droid as being a similar build to IG-88, an assassin
droid who was among the group of bounty hunters hired by Darth Vader to hunt down Han Solo
and the Millennium Falcon in The Empire Strikes Back.
German filmmaker Werner Herzog is perhaps best known for his directorial work overseas,
including existential dramas about the human will like 1982's Fitzcarraldo.
However, he has also tried his hand at acting more than a few times, like when he appeared
alongside Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher.
Eagle-eyed fans of NBC's Parks & Recreation might also recognize him from his cameo as
spooky homeowner Keg Jeggings in an episode from the show's seventh season.
"So this place has had zero offers?"
"People seem to be scared off, on account of it being haunted."
When speaking to the Associated Press, Herzog, who will be playing a villain in The Mandalorian,
applauded the series as a return to classic filmmaking compared to other slick blockbuster
projects, saying,
"The Mandalorian was filmed not like all the other Star Wars or other big event films [with]
green screen, green screen everywhere...You see the landscape, you see the formation.
The camera could even be handheld and move in between us, seeing the same landscape.
It's not green screen and artificiality.
It brings movie making back to where it should be.
It's a phenomenal, phenomenal achievement."
Although Omid Abtahi was excited about landing a role in The Mandalorian, according to Discussing
Film, he wasn't always a Star Wars fanatic.
He told the outlet,
"I hadn't seen any of the Star Wars films other than The Last Jedi...But when I got
offered the role, I realized I had to go and watch them...and fell madly in love with [them]
and I am now beating myself for waiting so long to watch it."
While it is rumored the newly-minted Star Wars fan will be playing an ex-Imperial Intelligence
officer named Dr. Pershing, not much else is known of Abtahi's role.
The American-Iranian actor has appeared in quite a few movies and TV shows throughout
the 2000s.
While he is perhaps best known for his role in the Starz series American Gods, he has
also appeared in films like 2012's Oscar-winning Argo, and 2015's The Hunger Games: Mockingjay
- Part 2.
You might also recognize him from his small roles in various episodes of popular television
series, including Better Call Saul.
In The Mandalorian, Bernard Bullen will be playing the mysterious role of "Father."
Although this is almost definitely his most high-profile gig to date, the Spanish/British
actor is no stranger to the screen.
He has appeared in several television shows, both foreign and domestic, and even has a
few movie roles under his belt.
He briefly appeared on TNT's The Last Ship, and also played an actor playing Christopher
Columbus in the CW's Jane the Virgin.
It is unclear how significant of a role he will be playing in The Mandalorian, but Bullen
may well be poised for a major breakout moment.
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