Pedro Pascal on the differences between The Mandalorian & Boba Fett

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Thanks to his distinctive armour, cool-as-ice demeanor, and general bad-assery, STAR WARS fans latched onto Boba Fett immediately after his appearance in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, but with RETURN OF THE JEDI tossing the character into the Sarlacc, we never got the opportunity to learn much of anything about the bounty hunter on the big-screen. Thankfully, it doesn't seem that will be the case in The Mandalorian.

Pedro Pascal, who plays the titular character in the upcoming Disney+ series, recently chatted with Entertainment Weekly and said beyond the armour, career choice, and preference to remain silent in the face of danger, the characters of Boba Fett and the Mandalorian are quite different. While Fett was more on the villainous side, Pascal said that the Mandalorian (who does have a real name which will be revealed) is more of a dark hero. "Ultimately he wants to do the right thing," Pascal said. "But his duties could very much be in conflict with his destiny and doing the right thing has many faces. It can be a very windy road." Series creator Jon Favreau added that unlike Boba Fett, the Mandalorian in the Disney+ series is actually the real deal.

Our guy is a Mandalorian, and we definitely explore the culture of the Mandalorian.

Director Dave Filoni added, "Boba Fett is a clone, according to Attack of the Clones, and by asking [creator George Lucas], he would say Boba Fett is not Mandalorian, not born on Mandalore. He’s more of a person indoctrinated into it, into the way of life, and gets a hold of the armor." Taking place following the events of RETURN OF THE JEDI and well before THE FORCE AWAKENS, The Mandalorian presents a harsh take on the STAR WARS universe. "Our guy is operating in a much more unforgiving landscape," Favreau said. "A place where survival is difficult enough, let alone flourishing in that atmosphere and the politics have dissolved. It’s ‘might is right.’ And how does somebody earn a living when there’s no structure to society anymore and everything is collapsing in on itself? How do you work your way through the world?"

Jon Favreau has said that he's hoping to explore the darker, freakier side of STAR WARS in The Mandalorian. "I'm trying to evoke the aesthetics of not just the original trilogy but the first film. Not just the first film but the first act of the first film," Favreau explained. "What was it like on Tatooine? What was going on in that cantina? That has fascinated me since I was a child, and I love the idea of the darker, freakier side of Star Wars, the Mad Max aspect of Star Wars."

Starring Pedro Pascal as the titular bounty hunter, The Mandalorian also includes Giancarlo Esposito, Gina Carano, Nick Nolte, Carl Weathers, Emily Swallow, Omid Abtahi, Taika Waititi, Ming-Na Wen, and Werner Herzog among its cast. The first episode of The Mandalorian will premiere when Disney+ launches on November 12, 2019.