I will never forget the shock and fear that I felt when I stumbled upon a tweet that said The Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal had been hospitalized for a back injury. Luckily, that shock and fear was soon replaced by relief and laughter when I continued reading the tweet to find it said the actor’s injury was caused from carrying the Star Wars franchise all on his own.

Now, we could go back and forth on the implications of this joke, but I think most fans agree the title role of creator Jon Favreau’s hit, Disney+ original TV show — whose real name is Din Djarin — is one of the coolest characters to come out of a galaxy far, far away, much credit due to Pascal’s ability to bring a lot of emotion to his performance without showing his face. However, did you know that he is not the only one under that helmet most of the time? We reveal the secret behind that and other behind-the-scenes facts about The Mandalorian, carry on reading to find out more. 

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By Jason Wiese

It appears that we can thank a fellow Star Wars actor for influencing Pedro Pascal’s decision to join the universe as the lead of The Mandalorian. The actor told Elle that his longtime friend and Triple Frontier co-star, Oscar Isaac (who plays Resistance pilot Poe Dameron in the sequel trilogy), was pivotal in “making me feel certain about what I was joining.”

It is pretty much common knowledge that The Star Wars Holiday Special — which aired on CBS on November 12, 1978 — is one of the most reviled “installments” of the franchise among fans. Yet, as Favreau mentioned during an interview with Good Morning America, his show pays homage to the special, which was also the first appearance of Boba Fett (as an animated character), by giving Din Djarin a rifle with a forked bayonet that resembles the iconic bounty’s hunter’s weapon from the infamous television event.

As Pascal points out in the “Cast” episode of the behind-the-scenes docuseries Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian, he is “third fiddle to two incredible guys” who share the title role with him, mostly for stunts and other physically demanding tasks. Handling Din’s gunslinger skills is Brendan Wayne — who is actually the grandson of Western movie icon John Wayne — and dishing out his jiu-jitsu mastery for action sequences — as he discussed with Scott Adkins on the fellow actor and martial artist’s YouTube channel — is Lateef Crowder. Despite all the heavy lifting they do and how much Pascal bases the physicality of his performance on their movements, Wayne and Crowder were not credited as series regulars until Season 3.

While we cannot say exactly how much (or how little) time Pascal physically spent on set for The Mandalorian Season 3 (having also played the lead of HBO’s The Last of Us around the same time), we do know that Wayne and Crowder had full ownership of the Din Djarin role for an entire episode of the first season. According to a story by Vulture, Pascal could not participate in the filming of Episode 4, “Sanctuary” — which was directed by Bryce Dallas Howard — because he was starring in a Broadway production of William Shakespeare’s King Lear at the time.

Ironically, on one day when Pascal was physically on set, he ended up being the one taking a painful hit, but not in a way you might expect. As the actor recalled on Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian, he was walking out of a makeup trailer to prepare for the moment when he removes his helmet in the Season 1 finale and did not notice in front of him a piece of plywood that he walked right into, injuring his nose. When he arrived at the emergency room, where he had to get stitches, the employees assumed his situation was even worse than it was, because of the faux blood all over his face and coming out of his ears.

The actor could have saved himself the hospital visit for his cracked nose had he been wearing Din’s helmet, but that might not have prevented him from walking into that plywood. The actor had a very candid response to Empire’s question about what it is like to wear his armor for the sci-fi series, stating that he “can’t see s---” out of the helmet’s impractically thin opening.

Because a good deal of Pascal’s performance as Din comes from a recording studio, the actor puts a lot into making the character’s voice very distinct, and successfully so. However, he finds it kind of awkward when parents ask the actor to speak to his young Mandalorian fans in the voice. He explained why on The Graham Norton Show with the following quote: 

"People come up to me and ask me to do the voice for their kids. But I think it sounds inappropriate because it is a breathy, low register ‘bedroom’ voice. It is so creepy and doesn’t work in real life." 

I think I would come to regret making such a request to Pascal if I was in that situation, too.

One of the most heartbreaking moments from the show was in the Season 2 finale, when he removes his helmet to bid his adoptive son, Grogu, a tearful farewell. Apparently, as Pascal revealed to Hot Ones host Sean Evans, those tears were real. The puppet that stands in for the character that, for a while, was known as Baby Yoda is so emotive and realistic that the actor found himself becoming genuinely misty eyed when acting in front of it for the emotional scene.