The Mandalorian’s Giancarlo Esposito Talks Bringing Moff Gideon to Life and Taking Inspiration From Peter Cushing

The second season of Star Wars: The Mandalorian has come to an end which means much of the cast has been reflecting on the series and the characters they play. Giancarlo Esposito is Moff Gideon, a member of the Empire who spent the first two seasons of The Mandalorian hunting Grogu. The final episode left off with Moff in the hands of Cara Dune (Gina Carano) who hopes to see him punished for his crimes. Of course, anything can happen with the ensuing battling for the Darksaber. Esposito has made it clear he wants to play the character again, and in a recent video shared by StarWars.com on Twitter, the actor talked about bringing the villain to life.

“I’ve been a very big fan of the early Star Wars movies and the world in which they exist,” Esposito explained. “I always was fascinated by Darth Vader. I thought that inside that very, very hard, coarse exterior could be a human being that had the ability to bring some light to our space odyssey in our galaxy.” He continued, “I was strongly affected by Peter Cushing who also played a Moff many, many years ago. And tried to do some research, because I knew the fans knew a whole lot more than I did about Star Wars.” You can watch the full video in the tweet below:

Esposito is not the only recent Star Wars actor to mention Cushing as inspiration. Last year, Star War: The Rise of Skywalker’s Richard E. Grant expressed a similar sentiment. “Took inspiration from the late, great Peter Cushing in @starwars A NEW HOPE to play Allegiant General Pryde in #RiseofSkywalker,” Grant shared on Twitter.

“I sat there and went, ‘Hey, what about me?!’” Esposito joked to Esquire about the many reveals at Disney Investor Day 2020, where Kathleen Kennedy announced new spin-off series. “People keep asking me, ‘Why aren’t you in Season Two more?’ I said, ‘Because we’re teasing you. I’m the heavy, and it’ll take a little time to get to what Moff really wants.’”

After some confusion, it was confirmed this week that The Book of Boba Fett will be a separate show from The Mandalorian, but with the same creative team. That’s not the only new project on Lucasfilm’s line-up. During the Disney Investor Day live stream, Kennedy also shared that two new Disney+ shows (Ahsoka and Rangers of the New Republic) will tie in with The Mandalorian, confirmed the untitled Star Wars film from Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi, revealed Hayden Christensen is joining the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, shared footage from Leslye Headland’s new show The Bad Batch, gave fans a glimpse at the upcoming Rogue One prequel series Andor, announced Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins will be helming a Rogue Squadron film, and more.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian is streaming on Disney+.