The Mandalorian‘s lead actor appears to be excited about the character’s role in The Book of Boba Fett. The Star Wars spinoff launched in December 2021, focusing on bounty hunter Boba Fett’s newfound control of the crime syndicate Jabba the Hutt ruled over in the original trilogy. It also depicts Fett’s escape from the Sarlac pit that devoured him in Return of the Jedi and the events in-between that film and Disney’s highly successful Mandalorian series, while likely leading up to season 3 of Din Djarin’s adventure.
The iconic clone bounty hunter, played by Temuera Morrison, appeared in The Mandalorian season 2, serving as a hesitant ally to Djarin and helping him reunite the “child,” Grogu, with the Jedi. Fans speculated that the Mandalorian could appear in follow-up series, but the first four episodes detailed Fett’s connection with a Tusken Raider tribe and his studious undertaking of the role of a crime lord. That is, until The Book of Boba Fett episode 5, “Chapter 5: Return of the Mandalorian,” which opened with Djarin slaughtering a room full of Klatooinian and collecting a bounty and continued to expand his story until a reunion with assassin Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) at the very end.
Pedro Pascal took to Twitter to celebrate the Mandalorian’s return to the Star Wars universe. The attached clip shows his character’s silhouette behind the plastic curtain of the Klatooinian abattoir, just as he appears at the beginning of episode 5. All Pascal says about the clip is “Wizard,” a slang term – and a callback to young Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace – he exclaims as Djarin later in the episode after taking his new N-1 starfighter for a test ride. Check out the tweet below:
Pascal’s tweet is double-sided, both as a sign of happiness by the Mandalorian actor and as reinforcement of episode 5’s fan service. The “Wizard” remark is the proverbial cherry on top of a sequence that takes Djarin and his new ship through the almost identical route young Anakin took in The Phantom Menace’s podracing segment. The tweet is simultaneously a concrete declaration that Djarin is officially a part of The Book of Boba Fett and will likely remain if the end of episode 5 is any indication.
Fans are likely even happier about the Mandalorian’s presence than Pascal. Online reception to the show mainly proved harsh or reluctant, with optimists referring back to The Mandalorian’s sluggish beginnings at the onset of season 1. Since then, Din Djarin, Grogu, and the Disney+ show as a whole have become modern pop culture icons, so viewers are understandably relieved to see Pascal’s character arrive in The Book of Boba Fett, which has trailed new shows like Peacemaker in popularity. While Bryce Dallas Howard’s direction and various Easter eggs arguably helped with the reception, Pascal’s potential appearance in the remaining two episodes could help the series end more positively perceived than it began.