Star Wars: Pedro Pascal thought he was going to play Boba Fett

Even though Pedro Pascal initially thought he would play Boba Fett, The Mandalorian gets to build a new character in Star Wars’ first live-action series.

Many Star Wars fans have wanted to see Boba Fett get more on-screen time. Despite his short amount of time in front of the camera, his cool armor and implied toughness was enough to build a huge fan base for the bounty hunter.

For quite some time, there were rumblings a Boba Fett movie could be made. Seemingly, the guy to do it could have been Jon Favreau, but he had other ideas in mind.

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While The Mandalorian is certainly inspired by the infamous bounty hunter, the first Star Wars live-action series won’t be focusing on him. Yet, the world of bounty hunting will be playing a crucial role in the series.

The Mandalorian isn’t Boba Fett. IG-11 isn’t IG-88. And there will be a slew of other Easter eggs peppered into the show, but they aren’t all those characters we saw in The Empire Strikes Back.

We see that already from the small preview clips we have gotten of The Mandalorian.

Pedro Pascal, who plays the title character, even thought he was portraying Boba Fett the first time he walked into Favreau’s office to discuss the role.

Why?

Favreau’s office was covered in images of Boba Fett. Naturally, Pascal’s thoughts went there. Pascal chatted with ComicBook.com about that moment:

"“I was like, ‘WHAT? I get to play Boba Fett?’ He said, ‘No, he’s not Boba Fett. He’s the Mandalorian.’ I couldn’t have imagined a better moment.”"

Boba Fett has had this cool factor that has followed him around. Pascal was excited about it, but seems even more so when he realized he was playing a whole new character. This way Pascal gets to create someone on his own and not have to hold up to the ideal with Boba Fett is supposed to be like.

He could certainly pull in inspiration from the original character, but as The Mandalorian, he gets to do something new and ambitious. While the show is set in the same universe as the Star Wars we know, these are entirely new characters that don’t really have any ties to the original characters.

This gives Pascal a fresh canvas to work with to craft this exciting character.

The Mandalorian will premiere on Disney+ on November 12.