Pedro Pascal, diehard ‘Star Wars’ fan, on his ‘very weird’ journey

Former “Game of Thrones” actor Pedro Pascal recalled feeling stunned when he nabbed the title role of the upcoming “Star Wars” spinoff show, “The Mandalorian.” The character, sporting armor similar to fan-favorite bounty hunter Boba Fett, is a different figure, according to reports.

A meeting with the show’s creator sealed the deal, Pascal told ET Online: “I got a call and the actual words were, ‘Jon Favreau wants to talk to you about something Star Wars,’ and so I said, ‘Absolutely!’”

Pedro Pascal in “Narcos”

Meeting up with the filmmaker-showrunner, he was also introduced to executive producer Dave Filoni. Pascal recounted enthusiastically asking them, “‘What do you want me to do? Which creature do you want me to play? What’s the story?’… They looked confused and basically pointed to the silhouette of the Mandalorian [in the room] and said, ‘You’re the Mandalorian.’ That’s why I sort of died inside—of joy.”

The “Narcos” star, expounding on his longtime love for the space saga, added, “I saw ‘Episode IV’ in the movie theater. I was very young, so I don’t remember the experience of being in the theater as well as I do ‘The Empire Strikes Back,’ which is burned into my childhood imagination. I remember three attempts to get tickets for ‘Return of the Jedi,’ and getting my heart broken every time; it was sold out. And [then] finding the tickets and literally staring at the poster … so it was highly present in my childhood, all the toys and all the stories. And now I’m in it. It’s very weird!”

The series will also star Nick Nolte, Carl Weathers and Ming-Na Wen. —OLIVER PULUMBARIT