The Mandalorian Stunt Coordinator Details the Most Tricky Part of Filming

In both seasons of The Mandalorian, Star Wars fans were treated to multiple intense action sequences, from intimate showdowns to collisions with massive beasts to entire platoons going head to head with one another, though stunt coordinator on the series Ryan Watson noted that one of the biggest challenges for the series was to deliver not only intense action, but also ensure these sequences were pulled off while the actors were delivering performances to further the overall story. The intimate nature of the filmmaking meant that cameras would pick up subtle changes in facial expressions, adding yet another layer of complexity to performing elaborate stunt routines.

“You can train the moves and have them down perfectly, but if you don’t have that acting backing behind it and the intensity that you would have in a fight — that’s probably the most tricky thing,” Watson detailed to The Hollywood Reporter. “You have the costume on and all these different cameras in there … It’s a very, very tough thing to act and to get through the choreography knowing all these different changes that you have to do at that moment, and where the camera is for it to look like a real hit.”

Of all of the intense stunt scenes in Season Two, Watson noted that Episode Seven’s sequence featuring hand-to-hand combat on top of a speeding transport was the most complex.

Another one of Season Two’s impressive sequences was the showdown between Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano and Diana Lee Inosanto’s Magistrate, which drew heavy inspiration from samurai films. One big difference, of course, is that the Jedi weaponry was much deadlier than any real-world swords.

“That changes a little bit of the dynamics. With a samurai sword, you can touch the blade and you’re not going to get hurt,” Watson pointed out, while joking about the lightsaber and how it’s “like a bug zapper.”

He added, “That’s why that fight feels very clean and very direct. There’s not a lot of wasted movements — when they start to fight, they explode. It’s from stillness to 100 miles an hour in the blink of an eye.”

With another season of The Mandalorian on the way, as well as all-new series Star War: Andor, Star Wars: Rangers of the New Republic, Star Wars: Ahsoka, Star Wars: Acolyte, Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett, we’re sure there are plenty more action scenes on the way, with each series likely embracing different styles of combat to be brought to life.

Stay tuned for details on the future of Star Wars.

What was your favorite stunt scene in Season Two? Let us know in the comments below!