Forget Pedro Pascal, This Mandalorian Actor Is Secretly Hollywood Royalty

By TeeJay Small
| Published 15 seconds ago

If you were to run up to a stranger on the street and ask them who portrays Din Djarin, they’d probably say “What? Who are you?” If you really pressed them about it, they’d eventually offer the name of Hollywood A-lister Pedro Pascal. While Pascal does provide the voice of the Mandalorian throughout the Disney+ show, he rarely suits up and cradles Grogu these days. Instead, that responsibility falls squarely on a man by the name of Brendan Wayne, who just happens to be John Wayne’s grandson.

Thanks to a profile in Variety, we now know that Brendan Wayne is responsible for bringing the physicality of Din Djarin to life in most episodes of The Mandalorian. If you’re looking to spot him specifically, just keep an eye on Mando’s neck, as well as his cowboy stature. Per Wayne himself, “I have the longest neck, so I have a little more space between my cowl to the cape … You see the angles when [Mando] sits at his hip, there’s a reason why people are like, ‘That looks like John Wayne.’ It’s because it’s me. That’s just my natural resting body.”

Brendan Wayne Honors The Cowboy Code

Wayne apparently auditioned for the role back in 2018, where he met with series director Jon Favreau and Lucasfilm president Dave Filoni. As the story goes, Wayne suited up for a screen test, and offered some prudent advice about how an actual cowboy would walk, talk, and gun down aliens among the stars. His cowboy experience comes primarily from his mother, whom he says insisted upon honoring the “cowboy code” in his childhood home.

In case you’re not familiar with John Wayne, he was an iconic western actor from the golden age of Hollywood. He often portrayed cowboys or folk heroes in his work. Though his films are lesser known to modern audiences, Wayne remains a symbol of old Hollywood, especially for fans of the classics and film historians. If you’ve got living grandparents, bring up John Wayne to them and watch as they light up with memories of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Golden.

The Suit Makes The Man, But The Man Makes The Suit!

Obviously, Pedro Pascal is responsible for donning the armor any time Djarin removes his helmet to deliver a steely-eyed line to the camera. Still, the characters’ creed insists that he leave his helmet on at all times, so body doubles such as Brendan Wayne are responsible for wearing the full 62-pound costume throughout most shoot days. Back in the first season of The MandalorianPascal wore the suit much more often. These days, there’s no need to pay his Marvel-sized salary for scenes where his face won’t be on camera.

The added benefit of having Pedro Pascal out of the armor is job security for people like Brendan. As he explains in his Variety profile, his renewed contract “gave my children and us some peace of mind.” During the first two seasons of the show, he would still bartend on the weekends, just to ensure he’d have a steady paycheck if Disney didn’t need him. These days, he’s walking ten paces and drawing down on aliens on a fairly regular basis. He says “It was life-changing. Even as just an actor, I got to create a character on a show who is literally defining an era of Star Wars.”

So the next time you’re looking for a fun fact, or dogging out your pals at a Star Wars trivia event, be sure to keep this one in your back pocket. Turns out The Mandalorian isn’t just a fresh take on a western format, it also employs a fresh version of a western icon.