The Mandalorian Is A Perfect Space Cowboy Thanks To His Connection To... John Wayne?
The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) is winning over audiences by presenting the perfect space Western in the Star Wars franchise. Although the film takes audiences to futuristic, faraway realms, it also evokes the Wild West with its sense of lawlessness and adventure. Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu find themselves in a world of crime lords and bounty hunters as they scope out Imperial remnants for the Empire.
Just as in The Mandalorian (2019), The Mandalorian and Grogu depicts Djarin as the perfect space cowboy. He’s a rugged, gunslinging, and independent bounty hunter, roaming the galaxy with his apprentice, Grogu. Djarin channels quite a bit of cowboy energy, and it’s not a coincidence that his body actor has a strong tie to the Western genre.
Who Plays Din Djarin?
Pedro Pascal is the voice and face of Din Djarin in The Mandalorian and The Mandalorian and Grogu. However, especially as his fame increased, you may have guessed that it’s not always Pascal underneath all that body armor. Djarin belongs to a strict sect of Mandalorians, the Children of the Watch, who consider it shameful for one to remove their helmet and show their face. Djarin once removed his helmet to show Grogu his face before they parted, and once had it forcefully removed by the Hutts. However, for the vast majority of the time, his face and body are completely obscured by his helmet and armor.
The person often inside that armor isn’t Pascal, but Brendan Wayne. Beginning in The Mandalorian, Wayne performed as Pascal’s body double. He reprised his role as Djarin’s suit actor for The Mandalorian and Grogu. Wayne is one of two of Djarin’s main body doubles, splitting the role with stunt double Lateef Crowder dos Santos.
Who Is Brendan Wayne?
Djarin’s cowboy aesthetics are intentional, as Brendan Wayne admits to channeling his grandfather, John Wayne, for the role. John Wayne became a cultural phenomenon for his performance in a variety of Westerns, where he acted as the epitome of rugged, gunslinging individualism central to pop culture cowboys. As the grandson of John Wayne, Brendan felt his upbringing reflected Djarin’s in some ways. He told Variety that, as he grew up, his family had the “cowboy code” deeply instilled within them, and he had to learn what it meant and why he personally came to believe in it. Wayne explained, “The funny thing is, all of that informed Mando, because his process from day one is trying to figure out why he believes in the creed.”
Sometimes, the way Wayne channels his grandfather isn’t even intentional. His body language and mannerisms sometimes mirror the Hollywood icon merely as a result of genetics. He told Variety, “You see the angles when he [Mando] sits at his hip, there’s a reason why people are like, ‘That looks like John Wayne.’ It’s because it’s me. That’s just my natural resting body.”
Why Mando Is Star Wars’ Perfect Space Cowboy
Din Djarin walks like John Wayne to cowboy-esque soundtracks, armed with a pistol and pulse blaster. When he walks into the sunset with Grogu, the Western aesthetics are undeniable. Ultimately, Brendan Wayne was just the cherry on top of fashioning Djarin into the perfect space cowboy. From the outset, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni drew on Westerns for inspiration for The Mandalorian. Although he personally channeled Han Solo (Harrison Ford) for the role, Pascal stated that Favreau and Filoni were inspired by The Man with No Name (Clint Eastwood).
Pascal stated, “The character is very much built on the iconic presence of The Man With No Name in Sergio Leone’s movies, played by Clint Eastwood, and The Lone Samurai in Akira Kurosawa. It’s very much built on that sort of lone gunslinger, sword-wielder,” (via Men’s Health). Indeed, Djarin is the Man with No Name of the Star Wars universe. Gruff, mysterious, skilled with weapons and combat, and with a strong sense of justice and moral compass, he is the perfect lone gunslinger.
Although his priorities and penchant for isolation shift when he meets Grogu, The Mandalorian and Grogu promise the cowboy is still very much alive in Djarin. Despite working with the New Republic, he runs to the beat of his own drum and insists on carrying out missions and carnage in the way that best suits him. He’s a little bit of John Wayne, a bit of Solo, and a bit of Clint Eastwood, which turns out to be the essential cowboy combination.
