Giancarlo Esposito, Carl Weathers, and Werner freakin' Herzog join The Mandalorian

By Sam Barsanti | December 12, 2018 | 8:55pm

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Well, it looks like Disney is pretty damn serious about convincing Star Wars fans to sign up for its Disney+ streaming service. Not only is Jon Favreau’s Disney+ series The Mandalorian about a guy who looks like fan-favorite intergalactic badass Boba Fett, but the series has a dynamite cast that includes Pedro Pascal, Gina Carano, and Nick Nolte. Today, that cast is getting even better thanks to the addition of Giancarlo Esposito, Carl Weathers, and Werner Herzog—the German filmmaker who you may recognize as the Jack Reacher villain who had two thumbs and not much else, hand-wise. That comes from Variety, which says The Mandalorian will also feature Emily Swallow and Omid Abtahi.

Herzog’s involvement was first rumored back in October after he teased that he was going to be in a “big franchise film” codenamed “Huckleberry.” The assumption was that he meant Star Wars: Episode IX (Finn, Huckleberry Finn, get it?), but then crew members working on The Mandalorian were spotted wearing patches that said “Huckleberry.” Now that his involvement is confirmed, we can finally get somebody into the Star Wars universe who doesn’t buy into the touchy-feely nonsense of some invisible “Force” that binds and balances the universe. Obviously, the only thing worth believing in is the endless misery of existence, and all of the color-coded lightsabers and cool starships are nothing but a distraction from the approach of death.