"Star Wars" doesn't have a great history when it comes to fathers. That's why Pedro Pascal is something special in "The Mandalorian and Grogu."Show Caption
The “Star Wars” franchise doesn’t have the greatest history when it comes to space dads – Anakin Skywalker, anyone? Still, Pedro Pascal puts them all to shame.Over three seasons of the Disney+ series “The Mandalorian” – plus “The Book of Boba Fett” – Pascal’s armored Din Djarin is a Mandalorian bounty hunter whose target turns out to be a cute green alien child. Their connection is immediate, kicking off a story that finds the Mando going from protector of this little guy Grogu to mission teammate to adoptive father.Their relationship continues to evolve in the new “Star Wars” movie “The Mandalorian and Grogu” (in theaters May 22), where the dynamic duo hunts Imperial warlords and finds Grogu taking on a surprising role as protector himself.What fascinates Pascal the most about their relationship is “you have this special kind of green creature that is adorable, (with) little sharp teeth and obvious Dumbo-sized ears and claws and these big round eyes. it's just immediately disarming,” he says. “And then this man in head-to-toe armor, just fortified with weapons. Interestingly, you can't see his face, and there's nothing more intimidating, or just cool and mysterious, about this person.”Pascal harks back to the first meeting between these two characters, with Mando putting out his finger toward Grogu’s cradle and the child meeting it with his. “Instantly, in a gesture, there's something so human that you feel,” the actor says. “You learn right away, or are reminded at least, that there's a human heart beating underneath all of that Beskar armor.“That is the best thing about ‘Star Wars,’ because it's everything that the imagination is capable of that doesn't exist in our world but is a reflection of the world that we live in. All of that humanity and fight for the good is in the ‘Star Wars’ tradition.”'The Mandalorian and Grogu' is a 'total dream' for Pedro PascalPedro Pascal describes working with Martin Scorsese and Sigourney Weaver as "a total dream" on "The Mandalorian and Grogu."The Mando’s Mandalorian creed, a code of honor that includes never removing their helmets in front of a living being, has also led to the character’s “incremental revelation” to audiences as well as to Grogu, Pascal explains. The first time his helmet came off in Season 1, “it's so that he doesn't die": A droid heals him after he suffers a gnarly head injury.In the penultimate Season 2 episode, the Mando doesn't hesitate for a second to take his helmet off for an Imperial face scanner, "because it's something he has to do to save the child's life,” Pascal adds. And then in the season finale, as Grogu prepares to leave to train with Luke Skywalker, Mando removes his headwear and shows his face to the child "to say goodbye.”In those helmet-removal scene scenes, “the complexity of that kind of nakedness was a fascinating acting experience for me,” Pascal says. “What would it be like to feel that naked, emotionally and psychologically? The stakes would be so high, simply because somebody is actually looking you in the eyes. That was really cool.”Off screen, Pascal is pretty proud to see how popular his space son has become, winning over hearts as well as red carpets.The 51-year-old star was “a kid” when the original “Star Wars” movies came out, “and think about how in love we were with R2-D2. That was like a moving trash can. Not to insult. I mean, he’s like everybody's favorite character,” Pascal says. “And I saw ‘Gremlins’ in the movie theater. Gizmo is one of my favorite characters from my childhood.“To me, there's something so wonderfully nostalgic and relatable and really lovely to watch everyone collectively just melt around this wonderful, creative creation and character.”
