“It’s cowboy language, physically,” he says. Wayne points to a scene at the beginning of the third season, in which Mando comes face to face (well, helmet) with a band of pirates, as he leans – John Wayne style – against a tree. If the guns come out, it’s not a threat, it’s the end of the sentence. Every time a sword comes out, it comes out to kill. “Every movement counts and has a meaning – very similar to samurai. “My job is to radiate whatever I can, almost kabuki style,” he says. “Jon wanted a very western, gritty, physical style, mixed with the things that Lateef could do.” Wayne looked back at the physical performances of Yul Brynner in Westworld and Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator. “On the first season, it was Lateef and I trying to figure him out,” says Wayne.

Scenes of him flying on a wire, for instance, are “100 percent Lateef”, says Wayne. Crowder is responsible for Mando’s stunt work. Born in Salvador, Brazil, Crowder performed stunts on Batman v Superman among numerous other films. Wayne was initially cast alongside Lateef Crowder, a phenomenally gifted martial artist. Everyone else was mad at him because he froze Han Solo. “I only got toys once everyone else had chosen theirs. He queued for 12 hours to see The Empire Strikes Back, 18 hours for Return of the Jedi and had an early affinity with Mando-kind. “I was the youngest of eight kids,” he says. “They put on the helmet and said, ‘This is the true test… How is it? Can you see? No complaints? You’re gonna be him!’ I’m like, ‘Who’s him? I came here for a payday!’ They look at me like you’ve got no idea…” “I started to realise there are bigger stakes here.” “I’m thinking, what are we talking about here?” says Wayne. “I think you’re gonna be the guy!” the team told him. The suit, originally made for a stunt actor Richard Cetrone, fit perfectly. I look down and say, ‘ Boba Fett!’ They’re like, ‘No it’s not Boba Fett.’” “There’s a carry box – it’s big, like 4ft long and 3ft deep” he recalls. Wayne signed an NDA and was ushered into a room. His only question was, “Am I getting paid?” He imagined having to put on a Jar Jar Binks head.

“I’ve done so many of these favours!” he says. Having worked with The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau before, on 2011's Cowboys & Aliens, he thought little of it. Wayne, then a jobbing actor and bartender, got a call to try on a costume for an untitled Star Wars project. But he didn’t know what he was getting into when he pulled on the Mando gear for the first time. If The Mandalorian is a Western in space – and it is – there's a reason that Brendan Wayne is such a good fit for the armour: he’s the grandson of John Wayne.

Now, with the third season streaming weekly on Disney+, Wayne and Crowder are finally getting credited alongside Pascal – after two seasons of being buried in the credits as a “double”. Other Mandos include stuntman and martial artist Lateef Crowder and actor Barry Lowin, who played the Mandalorian across the first two seasons. “There’s a couple of us who throw on the gear regularly,” he says. Indeed, while Pedro Pascal is the star name – the voice and sparsely-seen face of the Mandalorian – Brendan Wayne is one of several men who play the character when the Mando helmet is very much on. “When it’s Din Djarin, that means the helmet’s off,” he says. For Mandalorian actor Brendan Wayne, there’s a clear distinction between the helmet being on or off.

Mandalorian actor salary