How Ming-Na Wen Avoided Auditions When She Joined Star Wars As Fennec Shand

Ming-Na Wen, the actor who portrayed Fennec Shand in The Mandalorian, recently spoke about why she didn’t have to audition for her iconic Star Wars role. Fennec Shand was one of the best bounty hunters in Star Wars, though she first appeared in The Mandalorian season 1 as one of Din Djarin’s bounty targets and an antagonist, and she quickly proved herself as one of the most dangerous characters in The Mandalorian with her sharpshooting abilities. Despite her villainous origin, her character would go on to get a much more complex story in both The Book of Boba Fett and The Bad Batch.

Typically, actors earn spots on shows by auditioning and waiting for a call back, but Ming-Na Wen’s case wasn’t typical. While speaking on The Sackhoff Show podcast, Ming-Na Wen explained that her name was given to The Mandalorian‘s showrunners by Deborah Chow, one of the show’s directors, and that she didn’t need to audition.

“[Dave Filoni] and Jon Favreau, they wrote this character. […] [I was introduced] to Deborah Chow, who was working on Mandalorian, and I had no idea what Mandalorian was at the time. We were talking, and I love Deborah so much, and she’s like, “You know what? I’m gonna mention you to Jon and Dave.” And she did. And then I’m sure at the same time, my manager and agents were doing the same thing. So, they were like, “Oh! Let’s bring her in.” They just offered me the role, I didn’t have to audition for it, which is such a godsend because I hate auditions so much!”

As Ming-Na Wen explained, she got the role through a stroke of good luck and a good connection in the industry. It was more than simple circumstance, though, as Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau clearly saw what she could bring to the role. Casting an actor for a role without an audition is rare, especially for a character who has become as important to Star Wars as Fennec Shand, and it proves just how well Ming-Na Wen performs in the role.

Ming-Na Wen Was The Perfect Choice For Fennec Shand

The luck that gave Ming-Na Wen the role turned out for the best not only for her, but also for Fennec Shand and Star Wars as a whole. Ming-Na Wen has portrayed Fennec Shand in every one of her appearances, from live-action to animation, and she’s become inseparable from her character. The fact that she consistently reprises the role proves Ming-Na Wen embodies the ruthless bounty hunter and assassin, and she perfectly conveys the nuances of the morally gray area Fennec operates in.

It’s hard to imagine Fennec Shand, or any of her Star Wars shows, without Ming-Na Wen. She added context to The Mandalorian‘s bounty hunting world that made it much more interesting, and for all the problems The Book of Boba Fett faced, Fennec was never one of them, and the show would likely have been much worse without her involvement. Ming-Na Wen’s voice even added to the danger and intrigue of The Bad Batch. She may not have had to audition for it, but Ming-Na Wen still earned the role of Fennec Shand in The Mandalorian.

Source: The Sackhoff Show