The Mandalorian Armor Has Rogue One Connections
The armor originally worn by the title character in The Mandalorian apparently has quite a story [...]
The armor originally worn by the title character in The Mandalorian apparently has quite a story of its own -- and as related in the new book The Art of Star Wars: The Mandalorian (Season One), concept designer Brian Matyas revealed some of that story...including part of it that has ties to rarely-seen imperial armor that popped up in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Per the book, which comes complete with a chart breaking down where each piece of the original armor came from, elements of the suit (which was replaced with a new, shiny suit during the first season) came from Death Troopers and Shoretroopers.
Each of those have only ever been seen in live action during Rogue One. That's a nice through-line, considering that Disney+ is developing a Rogue One spinoff series that will accompany The Mandalorian on the streaming service.
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Bounty hunter Din Djarin's (pre-Beskar) armor included, among other things, pauldrons, shin guards, and thigh guards taken from various kinds of imperial troops he killed. Matyas explained that since the Empire had access to the best, rarest equipment, it would stand to reason that a bounty hunter might just walk off with some of the gear from bounties they had taken -- a little for the sake of having a trophy and a little for more practical reasons.
The armor, of course, provides Din with a striking, iconic Star Wars look, but also limits lead actor Pedro Pascal's range significantly.
"The biggest challenge in playing Mando in Season Two is still the obvious, in that, how to in subtle ways, be it through vocal intonation or physical stillness/posture, large movements, small movements, to dramatically convey a scene and keep the character compelling because he is economical anyway, much less being armored from the tips of his toes to the top of his head," Pascal said during a recent interview. "It is a physical challenge that is met creatively in terms of how technically you can achieve that. It will always be particularly unique in that regard."
The look and feel of The Mandalorian is some of the most universally-praised Star Wars content in a while. You can actually pick up a number of jackets inspired by fashion on the series in a new collection (check it out here).
The Mandalorian airs new episodes on Fridays on Disney+.
