‘I Think There’s More Road’: The Mandalorian Star Hopes for Star Wars Return After Getting K/i/l/led Off

Giancarlo Esposito is known universally as a bad guy – not that the actor himself is a bad person, though he’s got quite the acting repertoire of “bad guy” roles; Gus Fring in Breaking Bad, Stan Edgar in The Boys, Major Tom Neville in the too-short-lived Revolution and, recently, he played Sidewinder in Captain America: Brave New World.

For plenty of roles, he’s unlikely to come back, mostly due to character deaths. For one role in particular, Moff Gideon in the Star Wars spinoff The Mandalorian, Esposito feels he should return to finish his character’s journey, which Esposito feels isn’t quite over. Speaking to Empire, Esposito re-affirmed that his character could have survived what many would presume to be a certain death.

Introducing Moff Gideon as The Mandalorian’s Main Villain

Moff Gideon was the big bad of the Star Wars spinoff, which had its first season set five years after Return of the Jedi. Centered around a Mandalorian bounty hunter, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), the show evolved to become something of a spiritual successor to Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels.

Created by Jon Favreau, The Mandalorian began as Din Djarin comes across a survivor of Order 66 – a Yoda-like creature called Grogu. Din’s quest to return Grogu to the Jedi leads him into the conflict with the exiled Mandalorians, led by former Princess Bo-Katan Kryze, played by Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica), reprising her role from The Clone Wars and Rebels.

Bo-Katan’s war against the Imperial remnants has put her against the formidable and ambitious Moff Gideon (Esposito) who seeks to gain power in the wake of the Empire’s fall. Throughout the three seasons of the show, Gideon has been a persistent adversary to both Din and Bo-Katan as well as the remaining Mandalorians.

Esposito Talks Potential Return for Gideon and Hidden Depth to His Character

At the end of the third season, Gideon was seemingly killed during a Mandalorian raid on his secret lair on Mandalore where he’d been developing Force-sensitive clones of himself and acquiring the metal beskar. The metal is native to Mandalore and worn by its warriors, a light metal but also one that is impervious to lightsabers and blaster fire.

With the Imperial leader seemingly killed off, the future for Esposito on The Mandalorian or anywhere else in Favreau’s Mando-verse seems limiting. However, Esposito has long held out that his character is not dead, and continues to insist that there is plenty of story left for him to tell with Gideon.

Maybe there’s a way Favreau can bring Esposito back, possibly with a surprise appearance in The Mandalorian & Grogu movie, which recently finished production. The actor is currently playing coy on if he does indeed have a role, though less about his enthusiasm for returning to a galaxy far, far away.

“There is a big movie coming out that’s focusing on Mando and The Child,” he said. “I can’t say [Moff Gideon’s return will] be that. But I hope to be able to join that franchise again, because I think there’s more road for Moff Gideon.”

I think there’s more road for Moff Gideon.

Esposito is clearly very proud of the work he put into playing the role, noting to Empire that – for him – Gideon wasn’t so easily a cut-and-dry villain. He was a complex character and Espesito enjoyed inhaibiting his role;

‘Moff Gideon, to me, was ultimately that young boy who never had any power, who was always questioned about the colour of his skin. ’Are you white? Are you Black? Your hair is kind of curly?’ And he then took on this place for me, where he was ultimately the power, not only because of his physicality but because of his brain. The way he spoke, and everything else which I was able to create in such a powerful way, empowered me to control the chaos around me. You can’t keep a good Moff down.’

Interestingly, Star Wars lore has never touched on racial bias amongst humans and its interesting to hear such a perspective, though its unclear if this is currently cannon. Favreau has given such depth to the characters he’s placed in the Mando-verse, Gideon being one of those who does not get enough time on screen. Though when Espesito takes to the camera, he makes every frame artistry.