Summary
- The Mandalorian is brought to life by three different actors, each bringing their own personalities to the character while matching each other's performances.
- Pedro Pascal, the most famous of the actors, provides the deep vibrato voice of Din Djarin and stepped into the armor for most episodes of The Mandalorian season 2.
- Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder contribute to the physicality and stunts of the character, with Wayne primarily taking on the role in season 1 and 3, and Crowder performing the impressive fight scenes throughout all three seasons.
the Mandalorian beskar. This also gives an already complex character even more layers, as the three actors who help bring Din Djarin to life all bring something different to the table.
There is no shortage of amazing performances in Star Wars, and The Mandalorian is no exception. The thing that really is special about the role of Din Djarin, however, is that the three different actors bring their own personalities to the character, while still being able to match the performances of their colleagues. It’s a testament to their ability to physically act that this character is so highly regarded and loved by so many. Not only that, but it’s often hard to figure out which actor is donning the suit at any particular moment, which feeds into the actors’ ability to match each other. Here are all three of the men who most often wear Din Djarin's beskar, as well as when they tend to appear in the live-action Star Wars TV show.
Pedro Pascal
Most famously, Din Djarin is portrayed by the amazing Pedro Pascal. The Chilean-American actor brings to life Mando’s deep vibrato, which Pascal has even jokingly referred to as a “bedroom voice” while hosting Saturday Night Live in February 2023. The actor is also known for his roles in Game of Thrones, Narcos, and The Last of Us, though The Mandalorian launched him headlong into massive fame. Despite providing Djarin’s voice, Pascal is rarely in the Mandalorian armor, due to both its demanding physicality and his various other roles. In fact, The Mandalorian season 1 was already one month into filming when Pascal was officially brought on board, which means he was not often adorning the Mandalorian armor in The Mandalorian season 1 - aside from his helmet-less scene in episode 8.
This all changed with The Mandalorian season 2, when Pedro Pascal stepped into the armor for almost every, if not every, episode. It’s been confirmed Pascal was definitely in the suit for The Mandalorian season 2, episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 8, and thus likely episodes 5 and 6 as well. Despite this, Pascal may have only portrayed Din Djarin in the helmet-less scenes in The Mandalorian season 2, episodes 7 and 8. Pascal's role as Din changed back to his season 1 pattern with the character’s appearances in The Book of Boba Fett and The Mandalorian season 3, where it’s presumed Pascal only lent his voice to the portrayal of Din Djarin.
Brendan Wayne
The grandchild of legendary actor John Wayne, Brendan Wayne has brought the physicality of Din Djarin to the screen for most of the character’s tenure. For the vast majority of The Mandalorian season 1, it was Brendan Wayne behind the mask, bringing Din's physicality to life. The Mandalorian season 1, episode 4 director Bryce Dallas Howard even itted in an interview with Den of Geek that she didn’t get the chance to work with Pedro Pascal at all and instead worked mostly with Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder, which isn’t entirely surprising considering how new Pascal was to the project at the time.
Bryce Dallas Howard has directed four episodes for Star Wars: The Mandalorian season 1, episode 4 "Chapter 4: Sanctuary," season 2, episode 3 "Chapter 11: The Heiress," and season 3, episode 6 "Chapter 22: Guns For Hire," as well as the highly renowned The Book of Boba Fett episode 5, "Chapter 5: Return of the Mandalorian."
In The Mandalorian season 2, however, Pedro Pascal stepped in for much of the season, which reduced some of Wayne's role to an extent - in addition to some health issues that kept the actor from doing more. It’s unclear how many episodes Wayne was absent from in season 2, but Barry Lowin also stepped in to do some scenes, most likely whenever both Pascal and Wayne couldn't do so. When it came to shooting Din Djarin’s scenes in The Book of Boba Fett, however, Wayne fully returned to play the character for most of his time onscreen. Because of Pedro Pascal’s other commitments, Wayne also portrayed Djarin for the majority of The Mandalorian season 3. Wayne even had the chance to appear in two episodes of Ahsoka, where he portrayed a New Republic pilot.
Lateef Crowder
One of the benefits of Din Djarin being masked for nearly every scene is that Lucasfilm was able to bring the best of the best when it came to stuntmen. Lateef Crowder has brought nearly all of Din Djarin’s stunts to life for all three seasons of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. The Brazilian-American actor is a brilliant martial artist and has extensive experience in capoeira. Crowder is responsible for many, if not all, of Din Djarin’s impressive fight scenes and stunts, ranging from fighting Moff Gideon to escaping from the Imperial Super Commandos. In addition to his Star Wars role, Crowder portrayed Santiago in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 and did motion capture in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
Lateef Crowder and Pedro Pascal worked together prior to The Mandalorian on 2017's Kingsman: The Golden Circle.
All 3 Actors Are Equally Important To Din’s Character
It's worth mentioning that while Pedro Pascal gets a lot of praise for the role of Din Djarin, it’s truly a group effort to bring the character to life. Pascal may get top billing in the credits of each show, but as of The Mandalorian season 3, all three Din Djarin actors are featured in each episode’s main credits. This shows that Lucasfilm and executive producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni truly value the work that Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder bring to the character, in addition to Pascal. With Pascal in high demand in Hollywood, it’s possible the physical portrayal of Din Djarin will continue to fall to Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder for the foreseeable future.
This collaboration is acknowledged by all three Din Djarin actors, who all say Din Djarin wouldn’t be the beloved character he is without all three of them collaborating. Because Pascal’s role is largely voice work now, he prerecords his lines, which often helps Wayne and Crowder tailor their performances to match the spirit of Pascal’s vocals. This kind of collaboration has been seen in other Star Wars titles, such as Solo: A Star Wars Story, where Ray Park and Sam Witwer tailored their performances to bring Darth Maul to the big screen. It’s truly impressive how Pedro Pascal, Brendan Wayne, and Lateef Crowder all bring the titular character of The Mandalorian to life.
