Giancarlo Esposito’s Moff Gideon may not be the most compelling of Star Wars villains in the long and eventful history of the franchise, but the way the talented Breaking Bad actor brought him to life still made the final standoff in the second season of The Mandalorian as suspenseful as it was grand in scale.
Among other things, mystery has been the beating heart of Jon Favreau’s live-action series ever since premiering late last year to high acclaim. And Gideon’s brief presence in the season 1 finale perfectly embodied that aspect of the show. Fans speculated for an entire year, in fact, about his possible affiliations, origins, and ties with the Imperial remnants, all to determine what possible reason he’d have for wanting to capture Baby Yoda.
Of course, while we finally got a sense of what this plan entailed, things didn’t end well for the big bad in “Chapter 16: The Rescue.” Though apparently, that didn’t stop the actor from having a bit of fun on the set. Esposito recently revealed his “pregame speech” used to taunt Baby Grogu in an interview with Esquire, which reads as follows:
“Are you happy today? How are you feeling? Did you have any breakfast? Yes, because we have a long journey. I want you to get a lot of sleep. So I have prepared some very special sauce for you so that you can sleep while we travel. If there’s anything you need, let me know. Do you play poker? I’ve got a deck of cards, too.”
A lot of actors might not like the idea of always being typecast as the villain, though that doesn’t seem to bother the Better Call Saul star in the slightest. If anything, Esposito somehow manages to always put a different spin on his characters and make them unique despite the fact that they all share similar evil tendencies.
As for the future of Moff Gideon in The Mandalorian, we know that the actor has already signed on for two more seasons. Besides, even in defeat, a resourceful individual such as the former ISB officer is still dangerous. As such, it’ll be interesting to see when and how he’ll make a comeback in future episodes to haunt Mando and his ward Baby Yoda.