The Mandalorian Star Pedro Pascal “Attacks” Taika Waititi at D23

It was supposed to be a busy weekend, so filmmaker and actor Taika Waititi probably just wanted to attend a few panels, reveal some details about his Marvel and Star Wars projects, and then enjoy the warm Anaheim sun for a few days while attending Disney’s D23 Expo. He probably didn’t expect an attempt on his life from his co-star on Star Wars: The Mandalorian. But here we are…

The director was speaking with Variety about the new Disney+ series, which will kick off the live-action saga in a serialized form that we’ve yet to see from Lucasfilm, until The Mandalorian himself Pedro Pascal appeared and seemingly broke the director’s neck without warning. Watch it in the clip below:

That Pascal, he can never take anything seriously, unlike Waititi who is revered for his true artistry.

The two will partner up in the first live-action Star Wars show, with Pascal playing the titular Mandalorian while Waititi will voice the bounty-hunting droid IG-11, not to be confused with IG-88.

Executive producer Jon Favreau spoke with Variety and revealed his approach to the series, explaining that he’s making a long-form version of an actual Star Wars movie instead of treating it like a low-budget series.

“Well, first of all, you have to treat it like you’re making a movie for the big screen,” explained Favreau. “The fact of the matter is that, if you look at Lion King, for example, we were very cognizant that, as many people are seeing it in the theaters, there are gonna be more people seeing it at home. And everybody has these beautiful 16 by 9 flatscreen TVs and you wanna create beautiful imagery that takes advantage of what people have. The Mandalorian, whether you watch it on your TV or if you saw it projected, it should feel just as much like Star Wars as any of the features.”

He continued, “Dave Filoni and I, who are partnering on this, we’ve been working so hard to try to honor the traditions of Star Wars and try to present something we would be delighted to see, as fans. Because we started a while ago, it’s gonna be available, day one, on Disney+, on November [12th]. I think they’re going one episode at a time, but it will be there, premiering on the platform, so if you have it, you’ll get to see it.”

The Mandalorian launches with the Disney+ streaming service on November 12th.