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The mystery surrounding Disney’s Star Wars TV series The Mandalorian is starting to clear up with the casting of Pedro Pascal as the title character. The Chilean-American actor is a fanboy favorite who made a name for himself with breakout roles as Prince Oberyn in Game of Thrones and Javier Peña in Narcos.
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Disney’s choice of Pascal is genius; this dude can do charming rogue in his sleep. It also follows Disney’s recent trend of choosing middle-aged thespians who have earned their IMDb stripes in indie dramas instead of fresh-faced pretty boys a la Hayden Christensen (because we all know how that turned out).
Disney also recently announced a prequel series on the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story character Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna. The Mexican multi-hyphenate burst onto the global stage alongside longtime amigo Gael Garcia Bernal (both are partners in Canana Films) in the indie hit Y Tu Mamá También.
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While Bernal has gone onto becoming Mexico’s most famous actor, Luna has taken on smaller roles in The Terminal, Elysium, and The Book of Life, while acting, directing, and producing passion projects such as Cesar Chavez. Luna’s venture to a galaxy far, far away put him back on the Hollywood map as he will ironically also top-line season three of Narcos.
Another smart Rogue One casting choice was Ben Mendelsohn. The veteran character actor was well-known in his native Australia for his breakout role in 1987’s The Year My Voice Broke and more recently in 2010’s Animal Kingdom. Although his acting chops earned him secondary roles in The Dark Knight Rises and The Place Beyond the Pines, Mendelsohn really made a name for himself in his Emmy-winning performance on Netflix’s Bloodline.
Since starring as the villainous Director Krennic in Rogue One, Mendelsohn has gone on to play the go-to baddie in Hollywood blockbusters such as Ready Player One, the upcoming Captain Marvel, and the Robin Hood remake, which could be another franchise.
