Pedro Pascal has captured the hearts of many in his various beloved television series and participation in many well loved franchises. One of these is the Disney+ Star Wars prequel series, The Mandalorian, where Pascal plays the title role. His performance has garnered much praise from fans and critics alike, and his name has become synonymous with the series. But it turns out for much of the show The Last of Us star isn’t on set at all, and most of his performance is voice acting work while another actor wears the suit. There are many distinct reasons for this, which Pascal recently shared.
The Narcos alum recently participated in a roundtable discussion with his fellow television acting peers, facilitated by The Hollywood Reporter. Pascal was asked about his work on the popular Star Wars spinoff show, and what goes into his performance. This is when the actor revealed his participation is heavily based in voice over acting, and while he wore the Mandalorian suit in the beginning of the series, another actor has taken over that part of the role. He explained this decision, saying.
There was an extended amount of experimentation, being in the suit for a lot of it, and frankly, my body wasn’t up for the task as far as, like, the four months of it. But I was in it. I was in it a significant amount, an elastic amount (he pretends to tug at his neck, where the suit would chafe). But now we’ve figured it out, which is super cool, and amazingly, it gave me the opportunity to be able to go and do something else.
It is pretty cool for Disney and director Jon Favreau to sign off on Pascal relinquishing his suit-wearing duties. Not having to be on set all the time likely allowed the actor to take on starring in The Last of Us for HBO. He also has taken on a variety of movie roles during production on The Mandalorian like The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent alongside Nicolas Cage. Without this kind of freedom, we probably wouldn’t have gotten to see the actor in so many iconic roles. He is such a talented actor, most wouldn’t even realize he wasn’t wearing the suit. There were previous rumors that Pascal wanted to be more face forward on the show, but this is clearly untrue.
Having different actors for the voice role and the physical role isn’t unheard of in the Star Wars universe. While James Earl Jones famously was the voice for Darth Vader, it was actors David Prowse and Bob Anderson who did the physicality for Vader in the original trilogy. This also allowed for the iconic voice actor to continue playing Darth Vader throughout modern renditions of the character. Many CGI Star Wars characters also rely on voice actors rather than actual actors in costumes.
This isn’t to say Pedro Pascal is never on set on The Mandalorian. While voice acting has been the default considering how rarely the titular character removes his helmet, there have still been many moments that have called for Pascal in the flesh, especially in Season 2. He lifts his helmet in front of Grogu a handful of times, allowing for emotional scenes to ensue, and cementing the characters’ special connection. The character is also allowed to remove his helmet when he is in front of droids, which he does in the Season 1 finale. So fans of the show can still look forward to seeing the Game of Thrones alum dawn the suit in future special episodes.
Fans of the series can stream episodes of The Mandalorian now with a Disney+ subscription. Also, make sure to check out our feature on Pedro Pascal's best movies and TV shows for more information on where else to see the internet’s favorite heartthrob.
