A pistol-packing bounty hunter stalks the small screen in Disney’s “Star Wars” streaming series, “The Mandalorian,” and he faces off against a villain played by German filmmaker Werner Herzog.
The mysterious bounty hunter from Mandalor — played by “Game of Thrones” actor Pedro Pascal — was introduced for the first time in a trailer released Friday. He makes his official debut in the first episode of “The Mandalorian,” which is set to premiere Nov. 12 with the launch of the Disney+ streaming service.
The mysterious Mandalorian (in armor that looks like Boba Fett’s) prowls the outer reaches of the galaxy in the time between the downfall of the Empire in the “Return of the Jedi” and “The Force Awakens.”
“Bounty hunting is a complicated profession. Don’t you agree?” Herzog’s villain asks ominously in the trailer. (Herzog told Vanity Fair earlier this year he was picked for the role because “they needed somebody who would spread terror and be frightening for the audience.”)
The series, created by Jon Favreau, mixes bleak high-tech scenes with the shoot-’em-ups and lone gunman bravado of an American Western.
Favreau compared the show to old Samurai movies or Westerns as the series was announced at the D23 Expo in Anaheim, California.
“I pitched [Lucasfilm chief] Kathleen Kennedy on a show that takes place after the Empire has fallen, and everybody is celebrating,” he said. “Except there’s no central government, so everything falls into chaos.”
“The Mandalorian” cast will also include Gina Carano of “Deadpool” as Cara Dune and Carl Weathers of “Predator” as Greef Carga, as well as Nick Nolte, Giancarlo Esposito, Emily Swallow, Omid Abtahi and Ming-Na Wen.
Disney+ will have access to all the franchise’s movies, including the upcoming “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.”
Ewan McGregor turned up on stage at the D23 event to announce he’s reprising his Obi-Wan Kenobi role in another project for Disney+. And a series in the works starring Diego Luna as the character he played in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.”
