Giancarlo Esposito Discusses Moff Gideon's Role in THE MANDALORIAN Season 2 and Working With Taika Waititi

Giancarlo Esposito recently appeared at the Television Critics Association panel to talk about the fifth season of Better Call Saul. While at the event, he also ended up talking about his role as Moff Gideon in The Mandalorian.

If you’ve watched The Mandalorian, it looked like it set up a much bigger role for Moff Gideon in Season 2 and when asked by /Film if he does have a bigger role in the upcoming season, he said, “It’s growing. Yes, I do. I most certainly do.” Obviously he’s not going to go into any more detail than that.

He went on to share that he’s excited to be a part of the Star Wars universe, saying:

“It’s been exciting to be a part of that project because of the iconic nature of it, but even more so, because it has returned me to the Star Wars that I loved. I saw the first few movies and dropped away because it became more and more in a different vein than what I wanted to be in, but this is the true space western. It gives you room and space and each one is a little bit of a film. So you’re able to tell a story visually and it returns to the original guts of mythology based deeply rooted in Joe Campbell’s mythology which George Lucas was so fond of and which is why he was inclusive of that mythology in Star Wars so I’m pleased to be a part of that.”

I’m sure a lot of fans feel the same way and can relate to how he feels about the franchise. The actor then went on to talk about director Taika Waititi, who directed the season finale of The Mandalorian. This included that epic moment at the end when Moff Gideon emerged from his crashed TIE Fighter holding the Dark Saber. When talking about what it was like to work with Waititi, he said:

“I love Taika. He’s an interesting guy to get to know. He seems to be in his own world creatively. He’s able to share enough of that world with you to tell you what he wants but what a creative artist and genius he is. A very different and odd human being but aren’t we all as creative artists? So I have great stories about Taika.”

He went on to share one amusing experience working his Waititi and how he was very particular about the final TIE Fighter scene and Esposito’s feet placement:

“I’m climbing up on top of my TIE Fighter and Taika’s looking visually at what it is. He comes to me and I climb down. We’re in this big room and nothing’s really there and the sky is moving. It’s the volume [the space where they film The Mandalorian] and I have my saber. Taika says, ‘Give me that, give me that.’ I gave him the saber and all of a sudden he starts moving his feet in all these different ways and he’s like, ‘It’s really good, it’s really good.’ And I’m [saying], ‘Yeah, but.’ He’s looking down at his feet and he’s like, ‘Maybe your feet, it’s the feet. It’s the feet thing.’ I said, ‘What’s bugging you about the way my feet are? I’m on a fucking globe 30 feet in the fucking sky.’ So I said, ‘Give me back the saber.’ I climb back up and I’m like, ‘Do the feet look better this way?’ Something about my feet bugged him the way they were. He’s that meticulous. I said, ‘Taika, if they’re looking at my fucking feet, they’re not looking at my face.’ He’s an interesting guy. I like him a lot.”

Why was Waititi so concerned about his stance? That’s a fun and unique story that offers a little insight into the kind of director that Waititi is.