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There’s a Place In the World For The Angry Young Mandalorian
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“I walked away from that fight bloodied and whiplashed.” That’s Simon Kassianides describing the return of his character, Axe Woves, in the latest chapter of The Mandalorian. Nonetheless, the actor sees it as a triumphant comeback, since the masked warriors see no disgrace in a fair fight. His character had already given up on his values—and in the Mandalorian ethos that’s a much greater source of shame.
Kassianides’ return underscores how season three of the Star Wars series has become a tale of pride and redemption, in this instance for an entire society that has been bloodied and whiplashed. The Mandalorians are a displaced people whose home planet was decimated and poisoned by the Empire in an act of genocide known as The Purge. Pedro Pascal’s character, Din Jarin, has since discovered that their homeworld is habitable again after many years, and Woves’ return in episode six is part of his quest to find other Mandalorians willing to return.
Kassianides, best known for the 007 film Quantum of Solace and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series, does not play a go-along, get-along type in The Mandalorian. He has his back up against the wall and refuses to bend—or crawl—based on the expectations of others.
His climactic battle in the new episode occurs after he initially resists Katee Sackhoff’s Bo Katan, the Moses-like Mandalorian leader trying to lead Jarin and the rest of their people home. Woves and Katan used to be allies, but Woves lost faith in her, taking most of her followers with him to work as paid muscle in the lawless parts of the galaxy, enforcing the will of the wealthy—in this case serving as a privateer army for two decadent royals (played by none other than Jack Black and Lizzo) on an extravagant world called Plazir.
It’s a lucrative life, but not exactly a dignified one for Woves. “When you meet him, he’s absolutely disillusioned in terms of, ‘It’s money. It’s fine. This is our future now,’” Kassianides tells Vanity Fair in an exclusive post-episode interview. “I don’t think he is very happy about it.”
Pascal and Sackhoff’s characters want Woves and his army to join with them, but Kassianides’ stubborn mercenary expects her to fight him for control. “I imagined he lost a lot of loved ones during The Purge and uses his pain to fuel his attacks,” Kassianides says. “He’s a natural leader in his own right, evident in the army of Mandalorians who’ve now chosen to follow him as mercenaries rather than stay loyal to Bo Katan. It’s also evident in how fierce his and Bo’s fight is. They do not hold back, something Katee and I were passionate about.”
Their week-long experience shooting that sequence for director Bryce Dallas Howard was also punishing. “I mean, we’re flying all over the set. It’s brutal. There’s jet packs, we are in the air, we’re colliding into the ships. It’s no small fight and we each hold our ground until the end,” Kassianides says.
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Anthony Breznican
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