Giancarlo Esposito Reveals His 1 'Request' When JoiningThe Mandalorianand How James Earl Jones Inspired Moff Gideon

Mar. 15, 2025

Giancarlo Esposito in ‘The Mandalorian’ as Moff Gideon.Photo:Lucasfilm Ltd.

Lucasfilm Ltd.

Giancarlo Espositois revealing how he prepared forThe Mandalorian.During his panel at Comic-Con in Los Angeles on Oct. 5, Esposito opened up about the research he did before filming began. When asked who and what influenced his role, he revealed he took notes from several people.“I went back and I watchedPeter Cushing’s performance — his Grand Moff performance was very interesting to me,” he explained. “I went back and looked atJames Earl Jonesbecause that was just inspiration to me, how he held himself, how he carried himself underneath that grand and very graceful costume. It took a long time for me to even start to think that I was kind of a modern-day Darth Vader.”“I didn’t know much and I wanted to sort of figure it out,” the actor, 66, continued. “So I went back and looked. I went back and read. I talked to[Jon] Favreauand Dave Filoni who weren’t giving much up. And then I made the rest up, which is normally what I usually do.““The one request I asked for was a cape, and that gave me the feeling that I had to walk a certain way and be a certain way,” he added of his character.Giancarlo Esposito at LA Comic-Con (left) and James Earl Jones.Chelsea Guglielmino/WireImage; Walter McBride/WireImageEsposito went on to explain that he didn’t truly feel like his character Moff Gideon until “I had the Darksaber” attached to his arm.“It’s interesting to have an extension of your arm, but it’s not your arm,” he described. “It’s a weapon. It’s a tool that’s revered. So I had to first bow down to it and give it great respect and then start to play around in my living room with a broomstick to figure out how not to set it on fire and how not to chop my own arm off.”Telling PEOPLE that he viewed Moff Gideon as “the ultimate bonus bad guy” earlier that day, he shared with the audience that “the journey” to embracing the part was just as “wonderful” as playing it.“Often times in our lives, we want to get to where we perceive ourselves as being, but if we got there tomorrow, we wouldn’t appreciate it as much as if we build the building blocks to get there,” Esposito explained. “So the journey becomes very important.““The journey for me of Moff Gideon, although it was a very facilitated fast one, I immersed myself to be able to figure out how to control the chaos and have you believe it and relate to it,” he added.Giancarlo Esposito attends the Marvel Studios Panel in Hall H at SDCC in San Diego, California on July 27, 2024.Alberto E. Rodriguez/GettyWhen it comes to his future onThe Mandalorian,Esposito said he would be happy to continue the role, but admitted “I don’t know much” about upcoming plans for it yet.“I know they’re making a film, I don’t know if they’re going to return to the show or not, but anything is open,” he told fans. “And I certainly left the best opening ever for Moff Gideon to come back. I love it when you see a character go over the edge, but you don’t quite know what happened.”“I remember in our last season when I came to set, I had a different haircut because I figured I was in prison for a while and had no mustache,” he recalled. “And then before I started shooting, Jon Favreau came down and he kind of looked at me and he scratched his head. He went, ‘No mustache?’ And I went ‘No! No mustache!’ And so it leaves it open with all of those clones that there’s a possibility that Moff Gideon is still hiding out somewhere, waiting to come back and take over. I can almost guarantee it.”Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.Seasons 1-3 ofThe Mandalorianare streaming now on Disney+.

Giancarlo Espositois revealing how he prepared forThe Mandalorian.

During his panel at Comic-Con in Los Angeles on Oct. 5, Esposito opened up about the research he did before filming began. When asked who and what influenced his role, he revealed he took notes from several people.

“I went back and I watchedPeter Cushing’s performance — his Grand Moff performance was very interesting to me,” he explained. “I went back and looked atJames Earl Jonesbecause that was just inspiration to me, how he held himself, how he carried himself underneath that grand and very graceful costume. It took a long time for me to even start to think that I was kind of a modern-day Darth Vader.”

“I didn’t know much and I wanted to sort of figure it out,” the actor, 66, continued. “So I went back and looked. I went back and read. I talked to[Jon] Favreauand Dave Filoni who weren’t giving much up. And then I made the rest up, which is normally what I usually do.”

“The one request I asked for was a cape, and that gave me the feeling that I had to walk a certain way and be a certain way,” he added of his character.

Giancarlo Esposito at LA Comic-Con (left) and James Earl Jones.Chelsea Guglielmino/WireImage; Walter McBride/WireImage

Chelsea Guglielmino/WireImage; Walter McBride/WireImage

Esposito went on to explain that he didn’t truly feel like his character Moff Gideon until “I had the Darksaber” attached to his arm.

“It’s interesting to have an extension of your arm, but it’s not your arm,” he described. “It’s a weapon. It’s a tool that’s revered. So I had to first bow down to it and give it great respect and then start to play around in my living room with a broomstick to figure out how not to set it on fire and how not to chop my own arm off.”

Telling PEOPLE that he viewed Moff Gideon as “the ultimate bonus bad guy” earlier that day, he shared with the audience that “the journey” to embracing the part was just as “wonderful” as playing it.

“Often times in our lives, we want to get to where we perceive ourselves as being, but if we got there tomorrow, we wouldn’t appreciate it as much as if we build the building blocks to get there,” Esposito explained. “So the journey becomes very important.”

“The journey for me of Moff Gideon, although it was a very facilitated fast one, I immersed myself to be able to figure out how to control the chaos and have you believe it and relate to it,” he added.

Giancarlo Esposito attends the Marvel Studios Panel in Hall H at SDCC in San Diego, California on July 27, 2024.Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty

When it comes to his future onThe Mandalorian,Esposito said he would be happy to continue the role, but admitted “I don’t know much” about upcoming plans for it yet.

“I know they’re making a film, I don’t know if they’re going to return to the show or not, but anything is open,” he told fans. “And I certainly left the best opening ever for Moff Gideon to come back. I love it when you see a character go over the edge, but you don’t quite know what happened.”

“I remember in our last season when I came to set, I had a different haircut because I figured I was in prison for a while and had no mustache,” he recalled. “And then before I started shooting, Jon Favreau came down and he kind of looked at me and he scratched his head. He went, ‘No mustache?’ And I went ‘No! No mustache!’ And so it leaves it open with all of those clones that there’s a possibility that Moff Gideon is still hiding out somewhere, waiting to come back and take over. I can almost guarantee it.”

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Seasons 1-3 ofThe Mandalorianare streaming now on Disney+.

source: people.com