Martin Scorsese Makes STAR WARS Debut in THE MANDALORIAN & GROGU Trailer
Star Wars fans got more than just new footage this morning in the new trailer for The Mandalorian & Grogu. It delivered action, atmosphere, and a pretty wild surprise. If you thought that alien voice in the opening sounded familiar, you weren’t imagining it. Yes, that’s actually Martin Scorsese stepping into a galaxy far, far away.
Cameos have always been part of the Star Wars tradition. Way back in The Empire Strikes Back, concept artist Ralph McQuarrie slipped into the background without most fans realizing it until years later.
George Lucas and his kids popped up during the prequels. The sequel trilogy featured Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, and even John Williams. It’s become one of those fun details fans love spotting.
Now you can officially add Scorsese to that list.
The new The Mandalorian & Grogu trailer doesn’t just tease the next chapter of Din Djarin and Grogu’s story. It opens with an Ardennian character who instantly had fans doing double takes.
The voice, the cadence, even the eyebrows built into the CG model felt unmistakably Scorsese. It turns out the internet was right. ComicBook confirmed with Disney that the Ardennian in the trailer is indeed voiced by Martin Scorsese.
At first glance, it might seem random. But there’s actually some connective tissue here. Scorsese previously worked with director Jon Favreau, who had a role in Scorsese’s film The Wolf of Wall Street.
Even more significant is Scorsese’s long friendship with George Lucas. When Scorsese finally won the Academy Award for Best Director, Lucas was one of the presenters on stage alongside Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Spielberg.
There’s also a fun bit of symmetry tied to the species itself. The last Ardennian to hit the big screen in a Star Wars film was Rio Durant in Solo: A Star Wars Story, and that character was voiced by Jon Favreau.
Of course, Scorsese stepping into a major Disney franchise is bound to stir up memories of his 2019 comments about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At the time, he said the MCU films were “not cinema” and compared them more to “theme park” attractions than traditional movies.
The internet ran with that for years. Now, seeing him lend his voice to The Mandalorian & Grogu has some fans calling the situation ironic. Or maybe it’s just a case of an 83-year-old filmmaker having some fun with a longtime friend’s universe.
Either way, it’s cool that Scorsese jump into the Star Wars universe and The Mandalorian & Grogu looks like a ton of fun!