Jon Favreau Shares How Jack Black and Lizzo Ended Up in THE MANDALORIAN
The sixth episode of The Mandalorian Season 3, titled “Guns For Hire” was filled with some pretty big cameos. Two of those cameos included Jack Black and Lizzo, and they played Captain Bombardier and The Duchess, the prosperous leaders of Plazir-15, an opulent planet independent of the New Republic and the Outer Rim's only remaining direct democracy.
I get that some people love these kinds of big cameos in Star Wars. I understand why the creative teams do it, but for me, when I see cameos like this it pulls me right out of the story. If you enjoyed the cameos, though, writer and producer Jon Favreau talked about how the casting came together for these characters!
During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Favreau explained:
"Lizzo and Jack Black got involved because, honestly, one of the things we really like about working on the show is we like to bring people in who are fans themselves. Lizzo and Jack Black were both very active on social media.
"I know Jack from way back but he was doing Mandalorian things on Instagram or TikTok and Lizzo was dressing up like Grogu and my kids were showing me all these videos of how into it Lizzo was. We had an episode that was going to have this really eccentric royal couple in a court like something that felt out of Alice in Wonderland so we reached out and they were like, 'We'd love to.'"
Favreau then talked about how much fun it is being on the set with people who are fans of the show that are excited to meet Grogu. He said:
"There's something really fun about being on the set with people who are excited to meet Grogu...people, when they hold that little puppet, it's like they're dealing with a real character ... It was really fun and exciting on the set. A lot of pretty heavy, serious stuff happens this season, so this planet gave us permission to have a lot of fun with it."
I would love to visit the set of The Mandalorian! I know it’ll never happen, but damn… what an awesome experience it must be for the lucky people who are given the opportunity.
The Season 3 finale is coming, and it doesn’t sound like it’s going to end in a happy place. Actor Brendan Wayne, the in-suit double for Din Djarin, previously shared a message saying: "This next episode is gonna make you wish you hadn't asked for [another episode]. It might just hurt too much."
Regardless, I’m excited to see how this next chapter of the story comes to an end!