Giancarlo Esposito Talks About What Its Like to Portray THE MANDALORIAN Villain Moff Gideon
The Mandalorian is such a great series, and it has the feel of a great old Western that isn’t packed with tons of ensemble characters, but is filled with handpicked heroes and gnarly bad guys that fill the role of villain so perfectly. One such villain is Moff Gideon, played by Emmy-nominated actor Giancarlo Esposito. While he was an easy character to despise this past season, threatening our favorite little star, Grogu, Esposito is a truly likeable guy, and he recently sat down and chatted about his love of all things Star Wars on a recent webisode of The Untold.
In the video, Esposito says it was his dream to play a part in the Star Wars universe. Of getting into the role on the first day of shooting, the actor said:
My first day of shooting, I came down in a TIE fighter and I landed. And then I’m ushered into what is a standoff with 300 stormtroopers. …And so that standoff was the beginning of me finding the balance of who this character is. For me, as an actor, I have to reflect the images that I see and feel that aren’t really in front of me so that you can see this world reflected through my vision. And you get a true sense of that. You see something else as it’s all built and put together but it has to start somewhere– the kernel, the seed has to start somewhere inside of Moff Gideon.
He went on to gush about the series and its empowering message, saying:
This is a series that empowers people to be who they are. We are in a different world. And more that any other time in history, do our young people need to be empowered to think about the effect that they, personally, can have on our world. And Star Wars really focuses on that effect, and allows them to dream, allows them to be in wonder, and creates a sense of empowerment surrounding being a hero.
Check out the video for yourself below, and watch The Mandalorian Seasons 1 and 2 now on Disney+