Pedro Pascal, Rick Famuyiwa, and Other Cast Members Tease What To Expect From “Epic” ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3
With the first episode of The Mandalorian season 3 finally out in the wild, we’re also being treated to a lot of interviews with the cast and crew. This time, Pedro Pascal spoke to Collider and GamesRadar+ about season 3 and what it’s like recording the voice for Din Djarin, while Rick Famuyiwa also spoke to Collider, and Omid Abtahi (Dr. Pershing) had some interesting stuff to say on the red carpet of the season premiere.
While speaking to GamesRadar+, Pascal mentioned that season 3 will delve much more into Mandalorian culture and show us more Bo-Katan:
“I think that the most that we can get out of season 3, really, is about deepening our understanding of Mandalorian culture and its varying aspects. There are so many more Mandalorians that we meet, which is amazing. And the thing that I’m personally most excited about is everyone getting to see Bo-Katan in action.”
He also reiterated his feelings from past interviews about the epic scope the new season will have:
“I keep on using the word epic. And it’s such a cliché, but there are such epic moments within the seasons that we’ve already experienced, one and two, and even in The Book of Boba Fett, that bridges season 2 and season 3 of The Mandalorian so beautifully. And it outdoes itself as far as the word epic goes.”
In a separate interview with Collider‘s YouTube channel, Rick Famuyiwa (who previously directed episodes 1, 7, and 8 and also serves as an executive producer for the season) called season 3 the “culmination” of everything that came before:
“I think what we’ve been doing with the storytelling in the first two seasons and then with The Book of Boba Fett, has led us to this point. So on one level I think there is a sense of things coming together, a culmination of stories that have been built for a very long time.
But I also think there are seeds that are gonna get planted throughout the season that point the way forward in terms of where the story could continue to go, and so I think… it’s a little bit of both, but there’s something, at least for me, that feels like we’ve reached a kind of a chapter… the end of a chapter in the storytelling by the end of season 3 that’s been building since we first me these characters [in] the first season.”
Rick also elaborated on his role of directing the bookending episodes while also executive producing, mentioning that helped inform the actors on where they wanted to take their characters this season:
“I knew I was gonna come in, I wanted to direct episodes but I was also playing this role of executive producer with Jon and Dave, and so I [asked myself], as someone who’s been around since season 1, how do I best set the tone for what we’re doing this season, and express that in a way to the directors that are coming in that might be new to the process?
It felt right [to direct] the first one, and then obviously to conclude the season’s storytelling with 7 and 8, to have both those bookends gave me an anchor in the season as a director. I felt like being both the lead off and the anchor of the relay felt like the right place to be creatively, just because it could give me the context of everything we were doing and also to help express that to both the cast, crew and directors as they were coming aboard.”
At The Mandalorian season premiere, Omid Abtahi spoke a little about what we can see of his character Doctor Pershing in the new episodes, revealing that we’ll see him at the beginning of the season, from where he’ll be going on an arc of his own, though “he hasn’t made any huge shift in character since we last saw him in season 2”.
Omid Abtahi on Dr. Pershing’s motives in #Mandalorian Season 3 pic.twitter.com/EHeYva48gN
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) March 1, 2023
He also spoke about how he feels his character straddles the line between good and evil.
“What I love is, because Star Wars tends to be very black and white, you’re either Imperial or you’re Rebel, good guy bad guy, and at least the way I interpret Doctor Pershing, he lives very much in the grey. When I first saw Rogue One and I saw Galen Erso… I was fascinated by that kind of character, and Anakin and his struggle between good and evil. So on a much lesser level, the struggle between good and evil is fascinating to me, and to some extent I think Doctor Pershing straddles that line. “
When asked by Collider how the season compares to the previous two, Pascal teased that the surprises come from surprising places this time around, perhaps indicating that they won’t be as incredible as season 2’s Luke Skywalker cameo:
“Without giving anything away, I would say that the surprises are not necessarily what you would expect from our experience with surprises previous to this season. There’s a kind of approach to the way the story is told that is sort of unexpected, and I love that. I know it’s all very vague, but it’s surprising what the surprises are.”
He also elaborated on how he goes about recording the voice for Din Djarin when the character’s helmet is on. Because there’s no need to sync up to lips, apparently this means that lines can be re-written late into post-production.
“Oh it’s a very extended process in post, and [there are] so many different ways to dip back in and finesse, look at the episode again, change some of the writing, [there are] no lips that we’re matching. And so from the beginning, in Season 1, even scenes that there is absolutely zero sound issue with me in the suit, and playing the scene, there’s still opportunity to go in there and fine-tune and make it as good as what everybody gets to experience when it releases.”
Pascal also revealed that the “efforts”, presumably the term for when an actor has to make lots of grunting, yelling, and cries of anguish, actually take the most work to record:
“The efforts are very important and pretty hilarious. It would be great to be able to see that. They always happen, very, very generously, towards the end of a recording session so that none of the really important stuff is compromised by an exhausted voice or body. Because the only way to make them really sound real is for it to be real. It’s very physical.”
The Mandalorian season 3 is finally out on Disney Plus, with new episodes releasing every Wednesday.
Josh is a huge Star Wars fan, who has spent far too much time wondering if any Star Wars character could defeat Thanos with all the Infinity Stones.
