Pedro Pascal Actually ISN'T Leaving 'The Mandalorian'

Chilean actor Pedro Pascal (Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones, Javier Peña in Narcos, Max Lord in Wonder Woman 1984) has been acting since 1996, but didn’t truly become a household name until The Mandalorian debuted on Disney+ in 2019.

Related: Pedro Pascal’s Maskless Performance Proves Favreau & Filoni Got Casting Right

Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni’s Star Wars series immediately captured the hearts and minds of both longtime Star Wars fans and those who had never before watched a Star Wars movie or animated show.

Aside from Grogu (AKA Baby Yoda) being the cutest character in the galaxy, one of the reasons The Mandalorian had — and continues to have — such wide appeal is Pascal’s portrayal of the title character, beskar armor-clad bounty hunter Din Djarin.

The past week has been a dramatic one for The Mandalorian franchise.

News broke that Cara Dune actress Gina Carano had been fired after months of social media controversy on Twitter and, following that, Pascal and his team almost immediately announced that he had accepted a leading role in HBO’s upcoming adaptation of The Last of Us.

The series is set to be based on the video game of the same name.

Related:‘Mandalorian’ Season 3: Production Dates, Casting, & Everything You Should Know

Concern about Pascal’s role in The Mandalorian

Soon after Pascal’s new HBO series was announced, fans online began worrying that the Star Wars actor would no longer be involved in The Mandalorian Season 3, which is set to begin filming in Los Angeles in April 2021.

Despite their seeming political differences, Pascal voiced support for co-star Carano on multiple occasions during The Mandalorian’s second season, leading many to wonder if he, too, would be leaving the Star Wars franchise.

Related: Favreau & Pascal Caught In ‘Mandalorian’ Controversy

Deadline, however, has confirmed that Pascal has no plans to leave Lucasfilm and will be involved with the third season of The Mandalorian:

Pascal currently stars in Disney+’s hugely popular and acclaimed series The Mandalorian, which recently received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Drama Series. He will continue on the Star Wars series, where he is used sparingly because of the nature of his character, though The Last Of Us has him in first position.

The actor recently became available for a new series, attracting multiple big offers from top premium networks and streamers, opting to do The Last Of Us.

Related: ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3 Might Need to Air Without Grogu

It’s worth noting that Pascal wasn’t even wearing the Mandalorian armor costume for much of The Mandalorian Season 1. He was in the suit more during Season 2 due to several maskless scenes.

However, this means that filming should be able to continue with Pascal’s stunt doubles, like Brendan Wayne, as long as he is available for the necessary voice acting as production for the upcoming season gets officially underway.

What do we know about The Mandalorian Season 3?

Mandalorian showrunner Jon Favreau is notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to releasing details about the Disney+ streaming series. This means few actual Season 3 plot points are known.

Given The Mandalorian Season 2 finale episode, though, we can deduce that the Darksaber is likely to continue to play a major role moving forward. Djarin won the black-bladed saber in battle with Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito), angering Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff), whose sole goal has been to obtain the Darksaber herself and retake Mandalore.

Related: Did the Darksaber Expose a Major Plot Hole in ‘The Mandalorian’ Finale?

Although Sackhoff has not confirmed that she will reprise her live-action role as Bo-Katan Kryze, she has hinted that she and her Nite Owl warriors, Koska Reeves (Sasha Banks/Mercedes Varnado) and Axe Woves (Simon Kassianides) will be back.

In addition to The Mandalorian Season 3, three spinoff series have been confirmed — Ahsoka, Rangers of the New Republic, and The Book of Boba.

Ahsoka will follow Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) as she searches for Grand Admiral Thrawn. Little is known about Rangers of the New Republic, which was originally set to feature Gina Carano’s Cara Dune. Finally, The Book of Boba Fett will showcase Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) and Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) on Tatooine.

Related: ‘The Mandalorian’: Did R2-D2 Save Grogu from Order 66?

There are also unconfirmed rumors of a Luke Skywalker spinoff show featuring the Jedi Knight and Grogu.

What do you think? How much will Pedro Pascal be in The Mandalorian Season 3?