When The Mandalorian debuted on November 12, 2019, it took the Star Wars fan community by storm. Bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his foundling, Grogu — then known only as “Baby Yoda” or “The Child” — were a return to everything people loved about George Lucas’s original space opera franchise.
In fact, many fans felt that Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni were hearkening back to a bygone era when Lucas himself still had full creative control of the Star Wars story.
Over the course of two seasons thus far, Favreau and Filoni have enriched the Star Wars galaxy with characters new and old.
We’ve also seen the debut of a brand new character named The Armorer. This Mandalorian warrior serves as Djarin’s oracle, in a way, providing him with guidance based on “the Way of the Manadalore.”
Now, Armorer actress, Emily Swallow, has spoken to StarWars.com, sharing details about the moment it really hit her that she was involved in something as special as the Star Wars franchise:
Fans and press in attendance [at the Mandalorian premiere event in 2019] were shown the first three episodes in the series, cementing the Armorer’s role as the viewers’ and Din Djarin’s guide to navigating Mandalorian culture. “I just felt a kind of euphoria in the audience,” she recalls. “That’s when I got excited. I felt like I was part of something pretty magical that really captured the heart of those first three movies. And the quality and intelligence of it, the cleverness of how they were tying in so many things for people that are well versed in the Star Wars universe, but then also making it so accessible to people that know nothing about it, who could just jump in. It still blows my mind that it covers so many bases.”
The Supernatural alum also discussed some of the less poignant aspects of filming The Mandalorian, when she and Pascal were both getting used to their clunky beskar armor and signature helmets:
“When you can’t look at the face, the eye is drawn to the rest of the body even more, and every small movement becomes magnified. It was really fun those first few episodes, because we were all sort of finding together what the language of movement was and what translated and what didn’t,” Swallow recalls. “Dave [Filoni] and Deborah [Chow] were directing. It was a lot of experimenting. It was a lot of running into each other. We would bonk helmets with each other; I was tripping on things in my forge. I mean, if we had all of the behind-the-scenes footage put together from those episodes, we would have a Three Stooges reel because it was just ridiculous!”
By the time Swallow and Djarin returned to the “Mando-Verse” in spinoff series The Book of Boba Fett, however, they were both significantly more adept.
Their episode, Bryce Dallas Howard’s “Chapter 5: The Return of the Mandalorian,” sees Djarin seek aid from The Armorer after injuring himself with his own Darksaber in a skirmish.
The Armor ultimately dispatches Paz Vizsla (Tait Fletcher/voiced by Jon Favreau) to tend to Djarin’s wounds. During the scene, Swallow’s character inquires about what type of weapon caused such an injury, at which point Djarin hands over the black-bladed saber.
Credit: Lucasfilm
A brief history of the ancient Mandalorian weapon — which was created by the first Mandalorian Jedi, Tarre Viszla — follows. Ultimately, Viszla challenges Mando to a duel, claiming that he is, in fact, the rightful owner of the black-bladed saber since it was forged by House Vizsla thousands of years before, and was, at one point wielded by Sackhoff’s Kryze, who tried to lay claim to Mandalore “by blood” and with the weapon.
Kryze, however, did not win the Darksaber in battle, as one must to rightfully become Manda’lor. Instead, she was gifted the lightsaber by Sabine Wren (voiced by Tiya Sircar) in Star Wars Rebels Season 4.
Djarin wins the battle against Vizsla, but finds himself in a challenging situation when The Armorer asks, “Have you ever removed your helmet?” He eventually answers honestly and is told “You are a Mandalorian no more.”
When the fan-favorite character asks how he can atone, he discovers that the only way is to visit the “living waters” in the mines under Mandalore. The mines, however, have been destroyed, posing a major problem.
This sets up The Mandalorian Season 3, which is reportedly debuting on Disney+ in December 2022. This release window, however, has not yet been confirmed by Lucasfilm or The Walt Disney Company.
Credit: Lucasfilm
