Is Pedro Pascal still the Mandalorian?

The Mandalorian Season 2 is set to bring about big changes. Yes, the first season mostly played out with standalone episodes, but we saw the seeds laid for a more serialized future. In fact, we exclusively reported months back that this was the approach they wanted to take. Inspired by Game of Thrones, they set out to create a story that would launch into several spinoffs and tell an epic overarching story. This was recently confirmed by Jon Favreau himself in an interview with EW.

From what we were able to tell, this whole deal of creating a bigger universe was all part of the plan, but is that actually the case? YouTuber Grace Randolph has been hinting at some behind-the-scenes drama for a while, and following the release of the new trailer, she finally spilled the beans.

According to her, star Pedro Pascal wanted more facetime. Literally. He wanted more scenes with the titular Mandalorian’s helmet off so we could see that lovely mug of his. He reportedly wanted it so much that, after the creative team didn’t budget, he went to Lucasfilm proper for more support. But, apparently, that only led to the creative team telling him to just move on, and so he did. Randolph said that this happened halfway through production, and led to a reconfiguration of the series going forward.

RELATED – The Mandalorian Season 2 To Have Larger Scope, Jon Favreau Cites Game Of Thrones As Influence

Quite notably, however, Randolph did cover her rear a bit. She said that the proliferation of all the Dave Filoni characters could have been a part of the plan from the get-go, or they could be a result of Pascal stepping away, and attempts to distract from the absence of the Mandalorian. She also said she hopes cooler heads prevailed and “maybe they already have.” I’m not saying for a fact that she’s 100% wrong here, but it does seem suspect that she’s leaning into this scoop of hers, but already laying the groundwork for her to talk her way out of it in the future, should Pascal stay on board.

For our part, we’ve heard nothing on our end about Pascal leaving. We will be reaching out to our sources just to double-check, but as it stands, I find this whole thing hard to buy. Now, that’s not to say that Randolph is totally wrong. Most of what she reports have at least kernels of truth to it. Maybe there was some big blowout at Lucasfilm surrounding Pascal. But I just find it hard to believe that he would step away.

The explosion of characters and spinoffs seems like a natural route for the series of shows to go for Star Wars and not just a knee-jerk reaction to an actor’s request for more facetime.

But we will have to wait and see what happens with all this. It’s very possible things have happened exactly as Randolph stated, but that Pascal and Lucasfilm made amends months ago. We will be sure to let you know once we hear any updates on our end.

But what do you think? Do you think Pedro Pascal stepped away as the Mandalorian? Sound off down below!

Continue the LRM Online conversation on Discord by CLICKING HERE!

—–

Have you checked out LRM Online’s official podcast feed yet The LRM Online Podcast Network? This includes our flagship podcast Breaking Geek Radio: The Podcast, GeekScholars Movie News, and our morning show LRMornings. Check it out by listening below. It’s also available on all your favorite podcast apps!

Subscribe on: Apple Podcasts |  Spotify  |  SoundCloud | Stitcher | Google Play

SOURCE: Grace Randolph