‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian’ Casting Includes Giancarlo Esposito, Carl Weathers & Nick Nolte
Casting is ramping up for the Disney+ series ‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian‘, as they announce a bunch of additions who will be joining ‘Narcos’ & ‘Game Of Thrones’ star Pedro Pascal in the upcoming sci-fi.
After the stories of Jango and Boba Fett, another warrior emerges in the Star Wars universe. ‘The Mandalorian’ is set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order. We follow the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic.
Pascal takes the title role as the lone Mandalorian gunfighter, and it’s now been announced that joining him will be Gina Carano (‘Deadpool’), Giancarlo Esposito (‘Breaking Bad’), Emily Swallow (‘Supernatural’), Carl Weathers (‘Predator’), Omid Abtahi (‘American Gods’), Werner Herzog (‘Grizzly Man’), and Nick Nolte (‘Affliction’).
Giancarlo Esposito is probably best known for his role as Gustavo “Gus” Fring on the shows ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Better Call Saul’. He also appeared in Eric Kripke’s ‘Revolution’, played the Sidney/Magic Mirror in ABC fairytale drama ‘Once Upon a Time’, and popped up in ‘Westworld’.
Carl Weathers starred as Apollo Creed in the ‘Rocky’ movies and played Al Dillon in the original ‘Predator’. More recently he’s appeared in ‘Colony’, ‘Chicago P.D.’ and the ‘Magnum P.I.’ reboot.
Nick Nolte won a Golden Globe for his performance in ‘The Prince of Tides’, and Academy Award nominations for his roles in the films ‘Affliction’ and ‘Warrior’. He’s probably best known for is part in the ’48 Hrs’ movies with Eddie Murphy, but was recently nominated for another Golden Globe for his role in Epix comedy series ‘Graves’.
Emily Swallow starred as Amara on Season 11 of ‘Supernatural’, and played Kim Fischer on ‘The Mentalist’. Omid Abtahi played Salim in ‘American Gods’, but also starred as Homes in ‘The Hunger Games’ films, Salim in ‘Sleeper Cell’, and has popped up in shows from ‘Homeland’ to ‘Hawaii Five-0’. MMA star turned actress, Gina Carano, has appeared in ‘Fast & Furious 6’ as Riley, and played Angel Dust in ‘Deadpool’.
Lastly, the legendary Werner Herzog is a director, screenwriter, author, actor, and was listed as one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time in 2009. His acting roles range from films such as ‘What Dreams May Come’ with Robin Williams, to ‘Parks and Recreation’, to voicing characters on ‘Rick & Morty’.
Jon Favreau will write an exec produce ‘The Mandalorian’, and they have lined up an impressive list of people to join him behind the cameras. Dave Filoni, the genius behind the ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ and ‘Star Wars Rebels’ animated series, is set to direct his first live-action Star Wars project as he takes the helm for the first episode. He is joined by ‘Jessica Jones’ director Deborah Chow and ‘Dope’ director/producer Rick Famuyiwa. Also sitting in the director’s chair will be Bryce Dallas Howard who is probably better known as an actress but has directed a number of short films, and the phenomenal Taika Waititi, who recently directed ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ for the Marvel franchise.
Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy, and Colin Wilson will serve as exec producers. Karen Gilchrist will serve as co-executive producer.
There’s no premiere date yet for ‘The Mandalorian‘, but we know Disney’s new streaming service won’t be launching until late 2019 in the US, and then will be rolled out worldwide after that.
