The Big Picture

• Pedro Pascal’s potential role as Mr. Fantastic in the Fantastic Four reboot may decrease his involvement in The Mandalorian.
• Pascal’s busy schedule has already led him to have less physical involvement in The Mandalorian.
• If Pascal takes on the role of Reed Richards, future seasons of The Mandalorian may have to limit involvement of the character’s face and storytelling opportunities.

Pedro Pascal is one of the most in-demand actors in Hollywood at the moment, and he may be about to become even busier. Last week it was reported that Pascal was in negotiations to play superhero Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, leader of the titular team in Marvel Studios’ Fantastic Four reboot film. While the news is likely encouraging to many of Pascal’s fans, given his past successes doing memorable work in similarly large media franchises like the DC Extended Universe and Game of Thrones, if he is actually cast in the role, there may be some drawbacks that affect his participation in another Disney-owned franchise.

Since 2019, Pascal has been known for playing the titular character in The Mandalorian, the first live-action television series in the Star Wars franchise. However, while he consistently does voice work for the role, his increasingly packed schedule has led him to spend less time physically playing the part and if he takes on the role as leader of Marvel’s First Family, his actual involvement with his signature series will likely decrease even more. This could exacerbate some creative problems The Mandalorian was already experiencing when its third season was released earlier this year.

Pedro Pascal Isn’t the Only Actor Who Plays The Mandalorian

The Mandalorian is also known as Din Djarin. He is a member of a group of Mandalorian survivors known as the Children of the Watch who follow a strict version of “The Way.” One of their main cultural rules is that, once they receive their distinctive armored helmets, no member of the group is permitted to remove them except when they are alone. Consequently, Din’s armored, masked appearance made it easy for the show to disguise the scenes where the character was being portrayed by stunt doubles Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder and in which it was really Pascal in costume onscreen. As early as the first season, the series took advantage of this flexibility, with Wayne and Crowder filming even non-action scenes when Pascal experienced scheduling difficulties with other projects, though Pascal always dubs over the character’s dialogue. Pascal described being even less involved with the physical shooting of the series’ third season, likely due to his starring role in HBO’s The Last of Us, telling Variety that, “it was able to become mostly a voice-over gig for Season 3.” For that season, Wayne and Crowder received co-starring credits for the first time.

Keeping The Mandalorian Masked Could Be Harmful to the Series

But just because having the character constantly masked is possible doesn’t mean it is the best thing for the series creatively. In the first two seasons, the character’s face was revealed at some crucial moments, which became some of the series’ most iconic scenes. In the first season finale, Djarin was injured and the droid IG-11 (Taiki Waititi) removed his helmet in order to treat his wounds, reassuring Djarin that this was not a violation of his creed because, being a droid, he was not technically a living being seeing Djarin unmasked. The scene served as a moving moment of intimacy between the characters, especially given how vocal Djarin had previously been about disliking droids.

Season 2 featured even more dramatic unmasked scenes for the character. Late in the season, Grogu, the Force-sensitive child of Yoda’s (Frank Oz) species that Djarin serves as a surrogate father to, was abducted by a faction of Imperial remnants led by Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito). While infiltrating an Imperial facility to find out where he was being held, Djarin was forced to remove the helmet he was wearing as part of his disguise, revealing his face to a room full of Imperial soldiers and his acquaintance, Migs Mayfeld (Bill Burr). In the season finale, after he was rescued, Grogu departed to train as a Jedi with Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). Djarin removed his helmet, revealing his face to the child in an emotionally striking farewell that emphasized that his relationship with Grogu had replaced The Way as the most important thing in his life.

These scenes were part of a season-long arc in which Djarin began to move away from the creed. Earlier in the season, he met another group of Mandalorians led by Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) who were perfectly comfortable removing their helmets and viewed the Children of the Watch as fanatical extremists. This, coupled with the previously established connection between the Children and the terrorist group Death Watch that appeared in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Djarin’s subsequent unmasking scenes made it seem like the character was being set up to defy his own faction, or at least learn to recognize that there is more than one legitimate Way to be Mandalorian.

But the character’s subsequent appearances told the opposite kind of story. In The Book of Boba Fett, Djarin was exiled from the Children of the Watch after he admitted to having shown his face. And in The Mandalorian Season 3, he went on an elaborate quest to “redeem” himself so he could be accepted back into the group. That season, which was the first in which Pascal did not appear unmasked at all, also featured the Children building an alliance with Bo-Katan and other factions despite their different beliefs, in order to reclaim control of their home planet of Mandalore. It’s unclear to what extent, if any, this change in story direction was motivated by Pascal’s availability and while Djarin breaking away from the Children seemed like the more natural path for the show to take after Season 2, Season 3 has plenty of its own merits that make it worth defending.

Recasting Din Djarin Due to ‘Fantastic Four’ Is Unlikely

However, even those viewers who approve of Djarin returning to the Children will likely recognize that Pascal being cast as Richards could cause problems for future seasons of The Mandalorian. Reed has been a central figure in the Marvel Comics universe for most of its history and will likely have a role of similar importance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially with Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark no longer part of the franchise. If he takes the role, Pascal will likely be making appearances in a wide assortment of other Marvel projects in addition to Fantastic Four. Between that and his other commitments, including continuing work on The Last of Us and films like Gladiator 2, it’s hard to imagine the actor having much time at all to return to The Mandalorian set in the near future.

Consequently, future seasons of the series will likely have to have Djarin remain firmly committed to the Children’s Way so that he stays masked, allowing Pascal to continue to solely voice him. This would greatly reduce the kind of storytelling opportunities for the character and could have a big impact on the show’s quality. The only really viable solution to this problem, other than Pascal backing out of Fantastic Four or some other projects, would be to completely recast the role, letting Wayne, Crowder, or another actor serve as Djarin’s face and voice. But, as the returns of Hamill and other Star Wars veterans for recent projects show, Lucasfilm is reluctant to recast its most iconic characters.

There is an argument to be made that that sentiment is causing problems for the franchise, but regarding the specific role of Din Djarin, it seems unlikely that a recast would be received well. The reason Pascal is so busy is because he’s become one of the most popular actors in the world and he and The Mandalorian — both the series and character — have become largely synonymous with one another. There is a good chance that many viewers would stop watching the series if Djarin suddenly had a new face, even if, as in the past, that face wasn’t shown very often. Therefore, while Marvel fans are excited at the prospect of finally knowing the identity of at least one member of the MCU’s Fantastic Four, a lot of Star Wars fans may be crossing their fingers that Pascal backs out of the film.

The Mandalorian is available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S.

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