Credit: LucasfilmIt’s been a little over a month since Season 3 of the smash hit Star Wars spinoff, The Mandalorian, wrapped up its eight-episode run on Disney+. And now, one of the show’s leading actors is breaking his silence on creators’ surprising last-minute decision to resurrect his character.
Ever since its premiere on Disney+ in late 2019, The Mandalorian has become nothing short of a phenomenon. With crowd-pleasing stories that appeal to both casual and longtime fans of the franchise, the central father-son narrative endeared itself to audiences from the get-go.
Starring Pedro Pascal as the titular bounty-hunter-turned-adoptive-dad, The Mandalorian follows Din Djarin and his tiny charge, Grogu, as they travel the galaxy on various missions.
As seen in Season 3, the New Republic attempts to provide stability in the wake of the Galactic Empire. But after a familiar adversary reemerges in the form of Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) and his Imperial Remnant, Din and his allies find themselves in the middle of a dangerous situation that threatens to thwart their plans of reclaiming Mandalore.
The third season of The Mandalorian wasn’t exactly the smash hit Lucasfilm might’ve expected it to be, but it still found ways to further flesh out the New Republic era while giving characters like Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan Kryze some much-needed time in the spotlight.
Other side characters also got a chance to shine, like Simon Kassianides’ Axe Woves, who was originally supposed to be killed off in early Season 3 scripts before showrunners made the reverse decision to spare him.
Speaking to The Holo Files, Kassianides revealed that the creative minds behind The Mandalorian, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, had reportedly shot scenes for Season 2 “Chapter 11: The Heiress” showing Axe Woves’ death, but decided against killing him off for future episodes.
During the interview, Kassianides emphasized that he was “excited” by the way things shook out the way they did, understandable relieved that his character would live for at least a couple more seasons:
The way I look at it is that it’s really the storytellers’ story to tell, so Jon and Dave and all the guys that create the show. They’re such experts in deciding everything, and they see how they want to shape things. I can’t really speak to it, because I think I was just mostly excited that it didn’t go that way.
The actor also recalled the series’ producers asking him if he’d like to return for more Mandalorian episodes, even though Season 2 was finished and Kassianides was still under the impression that his character was dead:
But yeah, I do remember them calling me saying, ‘Would you like to come back and film?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, cool.’ And then when I went in and that and we did that it was beyond the season finale having been locked, so it was too late to be inserted into a finale. So, there was a lot of the ‘Where was he? What were you doing? Why weren’t you in it?’ Now the cat’s out the bag.
Additionally, Kassianides spoke on how his famous line, “For Mandalore!”came to be in Season 3’s finale, revealing that he worked with Jon Favreau on the triumphant moment:
Jon and I sat down and he said, ‘How do you feel about this arc and how would you feel about saying something?’ And he said to try ‘For Mandalore!’ And well, you know the rest is history, but it was an amazing moment, thinking about them all returning, especially the back story that I built into that moment in terms of what it meant for that character.
Although Axe Wolves’ fate remains known, it wouldn’t come as much of a surprise if Kassianides reprised the role for The Mandalorian Season 4, especially now that he’s sworn his allegiance to Bo-Katan and the newly-united Mandalorians.
For now, due to the ongoing Hollywood writers strike, Season 4 of The Mandalorian remains in production limbo. But hopefully, we’ll be given a projected release window soon.
Do you agree with The Mandalorian showrunners’ decision to resurrect Axe Wolves for Season 3? Share your thoughts in the comments below.