Pedro Pascal is not the only actor who helps bring Din Djarin to life in The Mandalorian. On March 1, The Mandalorian season 3 premiered and saw a reunited Din and Grogu heading out on dangerous adventures throughout the galaxy. The Mandalorian season 2 ended with Din showing Grogu his face for the first time, being cast out of his covert for daring to remove his helmet as shown in The Book of Boba Fett. This saw The Mandalorian season 3 center on his redemption, meaning Pascal’s face was not revealed at all in the show’s third outing.
In Star Wars thus far, Din has only had to show his face onscreen three times, leading to questions about how often Pascal is actually wearing the Mandalorian suit of armor throughout the show. Much of The Mandalorian is action-heavy, requiring professional stunts, and a lot of Din’s dialogue is recorded separately by Pascal after shooting. Bringing the titular character to life is a collaborative effort, and others besides Pascal are heavily involved in the creative process, especially in The Mandalorian season 3 and going into The Mandalorian season 4.
Pedro Pascal DID Wear The Mandalorian Suit - But Not Anymore
Pedro Pascal certainly does wear the Mandalorian suit on screen, or at least he did for seasons 1 and 2 of the show. Throughout the first two seasons of The Mandalorian, Pascal would be on set as often as he could be, though was sometimes absent due to other productions. That's no longer the case, though, with Pascal now mostly absent. Speaking to Collider, The Mandalorian director Rachel Morrison explained he tends to pre-record his lines, which the production team find incredibly helpful for production, and he then does another pass later for the final recording. This is nothing new in Star Wars – though James Earl Jones is the actor most associated with Darth Vader, he only supplied the voice. David Prowse was responsible for Vader’s menacing screen presence throughout the original trilogy.
Recently, Pascal revealed that the Mandalorian suit is quite difficult to wear while acting. The helmet, apparently, impairs visibility substantially. In Pascal’s own words, “It’s like putting on a head-to-toe glove with weights on it. It’s ironic that you can’t see any facial expression because it puts you in the world so completely, and instantly makes the character feel real – but you can’t see shit!” (via Empire). Though Pascal is intimately familiar with The Mandalorian’s suit of armor, there are other performers who are likely just as uncomfortable on set while wearing it as he is.
The uncomfortable nature of the suit though, has led to Pascal admitting he did not wear the suit at all during The Mandalorian season 3. During a roundtable interview via The Hollywood Reporter, Pascal confirmed his voice-only role for Mandalorian season 3. Citing that his body could not handle the strain of wearing the heavy suit of armor for days on end, Pascal insisted that the team behind The Mandalorian have found the perfect marriage between stunt actors on set like Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder and Pascal's voice-over work.
There Are Also Stunt Doubles Behind The Mandalorian's Mask
The Mandalorian, like most of Star Wars, is filled with exciting action. This means that a lot of stunt work is involved, especially for a show centered on a bounty hunter in the Star Wars universe. As a result, bringing The Mandalorian’s titular character to life requires the combined efforts of three performers: Pascal himself, and stunt actors Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder. In fact, when filming “Sanctuary” for The Mandalorian season 1, it was Wayne behind the mask the whole time.
Pascal and Crowder had worked together before on Kingsman: The Golden Circle, and Wayne is the grandson of the legendary John Wayne, so there was never any doubt the character was in good hands. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Pascal revealed that physically bringing Din Djarin to life was a very collaborative process between the three performers. In the beginning, Pascal was “given the opportunity to establish physical specificity.” According to Pascal, “they do the heavy lifting” when it comes to stunt performances and the way Mando carries himself throughout the rest of the show, which was certainly the case for The Mandalorian season 3.
How Much Is Pedro Pascal Actually On Set?
Considering an entire episode of The Mandalorian season 1 was filmed without Pedro Pascal on set, it’s clear his presence isn’t always needed to bring the character to life. However, when season 2 of The Mandalorian was about to air, Pascal revealed that he had been on set much more than during season 1, though he still sat on the sidelines for most of the stunt work. As evident by The Mandalorian season 3’s action-heavy plot, Crowder and Wayne had their work cut out for them, especially given Pascal’s absence from the set completely.
Besides Pascal’s reasoning given in the THR interview, both The Mandalorian season 3 and HBO’s The Last of Us were in production around the same time. The Last of Us began filming in June 2021 and wrapped in July 2022, while The Mandalorian season 3 started production in October 2021 and finished in March 2022. As a result, the overlap of both shows likely also contributed to why Pascal wasn’t on set for The Mandalorian season 3’s production. As previous seasons of The Mandalorian have proven, however, Pascal’s absence from the set shouldn’t worry audiences in the slightest going into season 4 of the beloved show.
Source: Empire, Entertainment Weekly