Simon Kassianides Discusses Axe Woves’ Return to ‘The Mandalorian’
This article discusses the latest episode of The Mandalorian and includes spoilers.
Simon Kassianides, who portrays Axe Woves in The Mandalorian, caught up with Vanity Fair to discuss his return to the show in Chapter 22, Guns for Hire.
In the previous episode of The Mandalorian, The Armorer confirmed that Bo-Katan would try to bring all of Mandalore’s people together in a bid to return to their homeworld.
Axe Woves is not the “do as you’re told” type of character, and according to the actor that plays him, it might take Woves a while to feel comfortable taking orders from Bo-Katan again. Woves and those that follow him are now “Guns for Hire” — carrying out the will of the wealthy across the galaxy.
“When you meet him, he’s absolutely disillusioned in terms of, ‘It’s money. It’s fine. This is our future now.’ I don’t think he is very happy about it.”
Din Djarin and Bo-Katan want Axe Woves and his followers to join them. But that’s not going to be an easy ask. Woves is an angry man, battered and bruised, both physically and mentally.
“I imagined he lost a lot of loved ones during the Purge and uses his pain to fuel his attacks. He’s a natural leader in his own right, evident in the army of Mandalorians who’ve now chosen to follow him as mercenaries rather than stay loyal to Bo-Katan. It’s also evident in how fierce his and Bo’s fight is. They do not hold back, something Katee and I were passionate about.”
This episode, directed by Bryce Dallas Howard, is action-packed, and the fight scene between Bo-Katan and Axe Woves took around a week to shoot.
“I mean, we’re flying all over the set. It’s brutal. There’s jet packs, we are in the air, we’re colliding into the ships. It’s no small fight and we each hold our ground until the end.”
The stunt work for the fight scene was significant:
“There’s one scene where I squarely punch her (Katee Sackhoff) across the face and she falls off of the wing of a ship. And as she’s falling, she shoots a grappling cable which wraps around my neck. It pulls me down and I smack the wing and go flipping over. When you see people do that a couple of times, you think, Yeah, I’m never going to tell people that I did that stunt. Nope, there’s no chance I’m going to do that. That’s pretty hard-core.”
How will these two factions finally come together under one leader? The Armorer and her followers (including Din Djarin) follow “The Way” more seriously than Axe Wove and his followers. Perhaps their differences will eventually be too significant to unite the Mandalorian people.
“The big question is how Axe will overcome his disdain for those that do walk the Way, who he calls zealots. They need all the help they can get and must unite. But Axe has a big personality and always makes his thoughts plain.”
Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni have a background story behind why these two factions are so different.
“Axe Woves was raised on the planet of Mandalore, unlike Din Djarin and The Armorer, who were raised on Mandalore’s moon where the Way was followed to the letter… Woves represents modern Mandalorian society, and as such seldom wears his helmet.”
It will be nice to see how Woves’ personal arc unfolds this season and whether or not he can put his anger behind him and fully join Bo-Katan and Din Djarin. You can read our review of Chapter 22 here.
Meet Julie Gray, a passionate pop culture writer from Aotearoa, New Zealand. A lifelong Star Wars fan, her love for the franchise runs deep, with Luke Skywalker being her all-time favourite character and Anakin Skywalker coming in as a close second. Her outlook on the Star Wars universe is simple yet powerful - "All Star Wars is good Star Wars", a true testament to her undying love for this iconic franchise.
