Brendan Wayne has spoken. Along with Lateef Crowder, the actor and stuntman has doubled for Din Djarin actor Pedro Pascal since the first season of The Mandalorian in 2019, often wearing the beskar armor and helmet that almost always conceals Djarin’s face. (As part of the Children of the Watch, Djarin swore an oath: “I shall walk the Way of the Mand’alor, and the words of the Creed shall be forever forged in my heart. This is the Way. From this moment on, I shall never remove my helmet.”)
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But when Djarin violated the Mandalorian creed by removing his helmet, it wasn’t Wayne’s face underneath: it was Pascal, who developed the character’s physical traits early on but would often have Wayne and Crowder filling in during production and dubbing the voice in later.
“I think, initially, it probably was a little bit more [frustrating] for my family,” Wayne, also the grandson of actor John Wayne, told Bo-Katan Kryze actor Katee Sackhoff on her podcast when asked about fans sometimes overlooking his contribution to the role.
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Wayne went on to reference James Earl Jones, who voiced Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy, and body actor David Prowse, who embodied the Sith Lord with Jones’ voice dubbed over his physical performance.
“I think I needed that not to be important to me,” he said of receiving recognition and credit as another actor portraying the titular Mandalorian alongside Pascal. “When it bothers me is when I’m trying to get a job and they’re like, ‘You’re a stunt guy.’”
Wayne next embodies Din Djarin in The Mandalorian and Grogu, the Jon Favreau-directed feature film that introduces New Republic Adelphi Ranger Col. Ward (Alien and Avatar star Sigourney Weaver).
“Then there’s moments you meet Sigourney Weaver, and she walks up to you and she goes, ‘Your work is seamless. It’s absolutely beautiful.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m Brendan. Who are you looking for?’” he joked. “She goes, ‘James Cameron and I were talking about it.’ Those moments, I’ll allow my pride to be there.”
Receiving the respect of his colleagues, including Pascal, Sackhoff, and Weaver “makes it all worth it,” Wayne added. “Would I like the business aspect of it to benefit me more? 100 percent.” But after being hospitalized for 42 days with a life-threatening illness during the production of the show’s second season, Wayne said, “[If not for surviving the hospital], I don’t think I would have taken this the way I have. It would have meant more to me that I get that credit, but now I don’t feel that way.”
Pascal has frequently acknowledged his Mandalorian doubles, including introducing Wayne and Crowder to the Star Wars Celebration crowd in 2022. “Before Celebration, they were like, ‘We’re gonna walk you out there.’ And that was a big deal,” Wayne said. “I didn’t know it, honestly. But it was a big deal. That was cool.”
“It’s been a collaborative process from the beginning,” Pascal told Entertainment Weekly in 2022 about sharing the Mandalorian role with Wayne and Crowder. “I was given the opportunity to establish physical specificity in some ways at the start of the show, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t observing and picking up from what they’re doing and handing over so much of it as well. They do the heavy lifting.”
Disney and Lucasfilm have slated Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu to open in theaters on May 22, 2026.
