Moff Gideon Actor Share Details About 'The Mandalorian' Season 3

What Does He Know?

By Culture SlatePublished 3 years ago • 5 min read

When season 2 of The Mandalorian ended and the post-credit scene teased something called The Book of Boba Fett many fans started to wonder if this would be season 3 or at least some form of continuation of the show. Later on we would find out that The Book of Baba Fett will be its own series, distinct from The Mandalorian, and that it will air on Disney+ before the end of the year. Furthermore, we learned that season 3 of The Mandalorian would not start shooting before filming of the Boba Fett/Fennec Shand series was complete.

In a recent interview at GalaxyCon in Raleigh, North Carolina, Giancarlo Esposito confirmed that shooting of The Book of Boba Fett has recently finished and that the camera work for season 3 of The Mandalorian would soon begin. Esposito himself is returning as the Imperial Moff Gideon, the ruthless enemy of Din Djarin and his crew. Not only did he kidnap Grogu and put tiny handcuffs on him, he also came into the possession of the Darksaber, an ancient weapon that was built by the first Mandalorian to join the Jedi Order. The Darksaber has since become a symbol of the ruler of Mandalore.

At the end of season 2 of The Mandalorian, Djarin had beaten Gideon in a fierce duel and taken the Darksaber from him. Things did not look good for the Moff when the audience last saw him. He was handcuffed himself, and his precious Dark Troopers had been wiped out by Luke Skywalker, who had also taken Grogu and promised to protect the child with his life.

It remains to be seen what Gideon’s role will be in the upcoming season. As the New Republic does not just execute its prisoners, it is safe to assume that the former Imperial Moff will be taken to some form of prison. Of course, it its possible that someone loyal to the Empire will free him from there so that he can continue his hunt for Grogu and get his revenge on Djarin. Gideon’s biggest asset at this moment might be his knowledge of Mandalorian culture and history. For example, he knew that the Darksaber has to be won in battle in order to be accepted as a symbol of the ruler of Mandalore, and cannot be simply handed over as Din Djarin had tried to do. Gideon surely could try to use this knowledge to his advantage, claiming to help Bo Katan and her group of Nite Owls to take back the throne of Mandalore if they help him escape. This still leaves us the problem of the Darksaber currently in possession of Din Dijarin.

Speaking of the titular character, Pedro Pascal is currently occupied in Canada, shooting The Last of Us for HBO. In the television adaptation of this popular videogame franchise, Pascal will appear as the protagonist Joel Miller. The absence of the main character of The Mandalorian will not be a problem when shooting of season 3 begins in the coming weeks, as Giancarlo Esposito made clear:

"We never have to wait on Pedro."

Season 1 had Din Djarin remove his iconic helmet only in one brief scene. Orphaned during the Clone Wars, he was raised in the Way of the Mandalore by a group called Children of the Watch. One of their rules said that no Mandalorian was allowed to remove his helmet in front of any other living being, or he or she would not be allowed to put it back on. During his encounter with Bo Katan and her group, Djarin learned that this particular belief were regarded as archaic and extreme. Other Mandalorian clans and tribes had no problem showing their faces. During the course of season 2 he slowly started to remove his helmet more often as well. Despite this realization, we still see Din Djarin with his helmet on in most of the scenes that follow. Thus, there is no need for Pascal to actually be present in the armor. Stand-ins or stunt doubles can fill in for the actor and he only has to provide his voice in post-production at a later time. Esposito stated that Pascal was in favor of showing his face more often in season 3, but would not say whether this wish would be granted:

"I can't speak to that. I mean, I know he'd love to be more off the helmet, but you know, his job is to be in the helmet. You know what I mean? That, that's the deal."

With Din Djarin’s prime mission of protecting Grogu now complete and the focus of the series seemingly shifting towards the recapture of the planet Mandalore after the Imperial occupation, chances are that we will be getting more off-helmet scenes for Djarin. This brings us back to Pascal’s tight shooting schedule for The Last of Us.

As Disney obviously does not want to cannibalize its Star Wars series by concurrently pitching them against each other, there might be some time before we actually get to see season 3 of The Mandalorian. The next big event after the end of The Book of Baba Fett will be the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, which is said to come out next spring. Also slated for 2022 is Andor, the prequel to Rogue One starring Diego Luna. Then, there is of course season 2 of The Bad Batch, which could be released on the streaming service in late spring, roughly one year after season 1. The premiere of season 3 of The Mandalorian could be pushed back to late summer or early fall of 2022. This should give enough time for Pedro Pascal to return from the post-pandemic world of The Last of Us to the galaxy far, far away.