REVIEW: ‘Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian,’ Episode 3 – “Cast”

The third episode of Disney+‘s Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian, entitled “Cast,” focuses on the actors and characters of The Mandalorian. It serves as a fantastic deep dive into the background of The Mandalorian himself, as well as other important main characters throughout the show.

“Cast” features a roundtable with Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian/Din Djarin), Gina Carano (Cara Dune), and Carl Weathers (Greef Karga). Much like the previous two episodes, it also includes one-on-one interviews with the actors and directors of the show.

While “Legacy” was a departure from the in-depth exploration of The Mandalorian, “Cast” returns to the expectations set by the first episode. It’s split into three different sections, each focusing on one of the three main actors. This gives every actor their chance to shine and discuss their exploration of their character, as well as give their coworkers time to speak about what it was like working with each other.

The first section is obviously dedicated to Pedro Pascal, who plays the titular character of The Mandalorian. I loved this part of the episode because Pascal and the show’s directors spoke about how difficult it was to demonstrate emotion when the main character is completely covered in armor.

In addition, the audience was introduced to Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder, the two body doubles who stood in for Pascal while filming action scenes. As someone fascinated by special effects and the behind-the-scenes of movies, I loved being able to see footage of the body doubles and snippets of interviews with them, especially since The Mandalorian is such a unique show and requires expertise in both gunslinging and martial arts.

The standout of “Cast“ was, by far, the section about Gina Carano, who plays Cara Dune. As many fans know, Carano comes from a background in competitive MMA fighting and, as a result, doesn’t fit into the typical Hollywood stereotype for female actors. I loved hearing her talk about how this experience has influenced her acting career and how portraying an unabashedly strong and fierce fighter in The Mandalorian has helped her with her own body image issues.

It was an incredibly inspiring discussion. Everyone’s love of Carano and excitement about her involvement with the show was heartwarming to see, as well as her own enthusiastic support of her coworkers.

In contrast, while I respect Carl Weathers quite a bit and love his character, his section was a little underwhelming compared to Pascal and Carano’s. Most of the roundtable about Weathers simply revolved around how incredible it was to have such a famous actor on the show. There were fun tidbits, like his character originally being an alien and only appearing in two episodes, but, in general, compared to the other discussions, his fell a little flat.

That said, his participation throughout the episode did lend quite a bit of insight into how the filming process worked and the importance of being a good actor, especially in such a unique galaxy like Star Wars. So, I was glad he was involved in the roundtable.

Overall, “Cast” was a much better addition to Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian than last week’s episode. It gave the audience an in-depth look at how the actors viewed their characters and made choices regarding their portrayal throughout the filming of the show. Because of that, “Cast” is a must-watch for anyone who loved The Mandalorian and wants to know more about their favorite characters.