Anna Daniels
Posted on Friday, January 17th, 2020 by Fred Topel
Giancarlo Esposito was on a Television Critics Association panel for season 5 of Better Call Saul. But after the panel, Esposito spoke with journalists further and /Film was able to ask him about his role on The Mandalorian, which is returning for a second season on Disney+.
Esposito plays Moff Gideon in the show set between the original trilogy and the sequel trilogy. Find out what Esposito had to say about his role and some anecdotes about season one.
Moff Gideon has a bigger part to play in season 2
Moff Gideon didn’t appear until the seventh episode of theThe Mandalorian. Of course details about season two are minimal, but Esposito confirmed he has a larger role in it.
“It’s growing,” Esposito said. “Yes, I do. I most certainly do.”
That makes sense. Season one set up Moff Gideon as a major antagonist for The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal). They wouldn’t just kill him off in the season premiere. Season two is already in production so Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni knew they had more time to explore the character they introduced.
Giancarlo Esposito’s loves being a part of the Star Wars Universe
The Mandalorian has been a big win for Disney+ and Lucasfilm. Setting it in the aftermath of the original trilogy has made it feel like the Star Wars many of us grew up with, including Esposito.
“It’s been exciting to be a part of that project because of the iconic nature of it, but even more so, because it has returned me to the Star Wars that I loved,” he said. “I saw the first few movies and dropped away because it became more and more in a different vein than what I wanted to be in, but this is the true space western. It gives you room and space and each one is a little bit of a film. So you’re able to tell a story visually and it returns to the original guts of mythology based deeply rooted in Joe Campbell’s mythology which George Lucas was so fond of and which is why he was inclusive of that mythology in Star Wars so I’m pleased to be a part of that.”
Taika Waititi debated the TIE Fighter scene in the season finale
Taika Waititi directed the season finale of The Mandalorian, which included the thrilling scene of Moff Gideon emerging from his crashed TIE Fighter.
“I love Taika,” Esposito said. “He’s an interesting guy to get to know. He seems to be in his own world creatively. He’s able to share enough of that world with you to tell you what he wants but what a creative artist and genius he is. A very different and odd human being but aren’t we all as creative artists? So I have great stories about Taika.”
Waititi was very particular about the TIE Fighter scene though.
“I’m climbing up on top of my TIE Fighter and Taika’s looking visually at what it is,” Esposito said. “He comes to me and I climb down. We’re in this big room and nothing’s really there and the sky is moving. It’s the volume [the space where they film The Mandalorian] and I have my saber. Taika says, ‘Give me that, give me that.’ I gave him the saber and all of a sudden he starts moving his feet in all these different ways and he’s like, ‘It’s really good, it’s really good.’ And I’m [saying], ‘Yeah, but.’ He’s looking down at his feet and he’s like, ‘Maybe your feet, it’s the feet. It’s the feet thing.’ I said, ‘What’s bugging you about the way my feet are? I’m on a fucking globe 30 feet in the fucking sky.’ So I said, ‘Give me back the saber.’ I climb back up and I’m like, ‘Do the feet look better this way?’ Something about my feet bugged him the way they were. He’s that meticulous. I said, ‘Taika, if they’re looking at my fucking feet, they’re not looking at my face.’ He’s an interesting guy. I like him a lot.”
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