By George & Josh Bate
The first new Star Wars movie in seven years has broken a record that reflects filmmaker Jon Favreau’s willingness to go weird and quintessential Star Wars-y in a galaxy far, far away.
The Mandalorian and Grogu breaks the record for the fewest number of unmasked human characters with speaking roles. There are only 7 unmasked human characters who speak dialogue in Favreau’s film. These are the characters:
- Commander Barro (played by Hemky Madera)
- Commander Fremmet (played by Joel Stoffer)
- Colonel Ward (played by Sigourney Weaver)
- Janu Coin (played by Jonny Coyne)
- Jib Dodger (played by Rick Famuyiwa)
- Dok Suri (played by Lee Isaac Chung)
- Carson Teva (played by Paul Sun-Hyung Lee)
- Trapper Wolf (played by Dave Filoni)
- Din Djarin (played by Pedro Pascal)
A testament to Favreau’s ability to craft compelling stories without traditional characters, The Mandalorian excelled as a series whose two lead characters were a masked bounty hunter and a puppet. Even when the likes of Carl Weathers and Timothy Olyphant show up, Favreau populated his series with tons of creatures and aliens in prominent roles, such as Kuiil, IG-11, Frog Lady, the Mythrol, and Vane.
Favreau’s approach is a stark contrast to the critically acclaimed Andor, which featured no non-human creatures in prominent roles and only one droid in a prominent speaking role (K-2SO).
Both Andor and The Mandalorian and Grogu take markedly different approaches to creatures and droids in a galaxy far, far away, and yet both feel just as Star Wars-y as one another. For all the credit Favreau receives for creating Grogu and the world of The Mandalorian, he doesn’t receive enough credit for creating a story that has spanned 27 episodes of television and now a feature film which center around an almost exclusively masked protagonist and a mute green puppet.