Giancarlo Esposito’s Moff Gideon has been one of the highlights of The Mandalorian on Disney+. The character was one that the actor was given almost complete freedom to create himself, That led to the fan-favorite actor him making one specific request of creators Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni. And I have to say, he was so right to ask for this creative detail.
Speaking at Los Angeles Comic Con (via People), Giancarlo Esposito revealed that when he was first brought on the first Star Wars series on Disney+, Filoni and Favreau were still very tight-lipped about the show, meaning that he didn’t have a great deal of direction as far as how to portray his character. Esposito did his own research, which resulted in one particular request regarding Moff Gideon’s wardrobe. The actor said…
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.
I think we can all agree this was an excellent decision. It’s difficult to walk around wearing a cape and not look, and feel, larger than life. Giancarlo Esposito clearly saw this. He knew the cape would impact the way he carried himself on screen, and that was what he wanted.
Moff Gideon is one of the last vestiges of the old Empire. He’s a man who used to be important but now finds himself in a world that has moved on without him. Gideon still sees himself as important and carries himself that way. He’s dedicated to bringing back a world in which the Empire and he himself are at the center. That cape coveys all of that in a single look.
The Boys actor says he did go back and watch other characters in Star Wars while looking for inspiration for his own. Specifically, he looked to Peter Cushing, who played the first Grand Moff character, and of course, Darth Vader. Perhaps it was the way that Vader carried himself with a cape that inspired Moff Gideon’s look. Esposito continued…
I went back and I watched Peter Cushing's performance — his Grand Moff performance was very interesting to me. I went back and looked at James Earl Jones because 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.
While Giancarlo Esposito doesn’t credit David Prowse, the actor inside the Darth Vader costume, it’s clearly the way he carried himself that inspired the actor and likely led to Moff Gideon’s look. Though sounding like James Earl Jones would certainly help with the overall feeling of power in the character.
Whether we’ll get to see Moff Gideon in The Mandalorian again is unclear. He appeared to have died at the end of Mando Season 3, but the man previously tried to clone himself, and the actor has made it clear he’d be more than happy to return for the upcoming Mandalorian and Grogu movie that is set for release next year. Hopefully, we'll see the School Daze actor play this role -- cape and all again.
Check out Giancarlo Esposito's performances as Moff Gideon by streaming The Mandalorian's three seasons with a Disney+ subscription. is done with Star Wars as a franchise, he'll be plenty busy with another as he'll debut in the upcoming Marvel movie Captain America: Brave New World early next year.
