Star Wars: The Mandalorian Star Werner Herzog Doesn’t Plan on Acting Again Anytime Soon

The first season of The Mandalorian featured a number of well-known actors, with one of the most surprising performers being Werner Herzog, who’s largely known for documentary efforts like Grizzly Man and Cave of Forgotten Dreams, though the filmmaker recently confirmed that his acting efforts take too much of his time away from “real things” like directing films. Herzog’s appearance in the series isn’t his first acting role, having previously appeared in Jack Reacher and Parks and Recreation, with all of these projects seeing the figure lean heavily into his intense presence and speaking patterns to immediately intimidate viewers.

“I have done a lot more acting recently, and I have to review it, because it takes away too much attention from the real things that I’m doing,” Herzog shared with BFI at Home, per Variety.

While Herzog’s Bavarian accent adds gravitas to any project he’s involved in, having regularly narrated his own films, Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau enlisted the figure in hopes of showing viewers that Herzog was just as compelling in front of the camera as behind it.

“Favreau said he really wanted me because he knew I would deliver as a badass,” Herzog detailed. “I also believe there is something very genuine about Favreau and he’s very fond of my films. He said, ‘I want the audience to take a look at the man who made these films.’”

Despite his intensity as the mysterious The Client in The Mandalorian, Herzog found an unexpected kinship with one of the series’ most adorable figures in Baby Yoda.

“Normally, you just approach them as actors, but Werner is special,” Mandalorian director Deborah Chow revealed to The New York Times earlier this year. “One of the weirdest moments I had on set, in my life, was trying to direct Werner with the baby. How did I end up with Werner Herzog and Baby Yoda? That was amazing. Werner had absolutely fallen in love with the puppet. He, at some point, had literally forgotten that it wasn’t a real being and was talking to the child as though it was a real, existing creature.”

As if his fate in Season One of the series wasn’t enough confirmation, these remarks from Herzog would seemingly confirm we shouldn’t expect to see The Client somehow return for more adventures.

Season Two of The Mandalorian is slated to hit Disney+ in October.

Are you disappointed we won’t get more Herzog performances in the near future? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!