The Mandalorian's Carl Weathers Confirms Return For Season 3, But Where's Pedro Pascal?

The Mandalorian is coming up on a year since the Season 2 finale that changed everything, and 2021 will end without debuting the new season. Fortunately, one Mandalorian fan-favorite just confirmed that he’s returning for Season 3. Carl Weathers will be back for the third season, and the actor has a message for fans about it. But what about Pedro Pascal?

Carl Weathers took to Twitter with a short but very sweet message about The Mandalorian Season 3, not only confirming his involvement but dropping some details about production. He posted:

The update about Carl Weathers’ status for The Mandalorian Season 3 not only reveals that he’s reprising his role as Greef Karga, but also indicates that the show is moving forward in some key ways. That doesn’t necessarily mean that filming is beginning that will have him back in costume in that galaxy far, far away right off the bat, but it’s still a good sign that The Mandalorian is moving ahead. 

But Pedro Pascal hasn’t given any indication that Season 3 is beginning for him just yet. In fact, it seems he could be pretty far away from set. In late September, the Mandalorian star took to Twitter himself with an update about production on a high-profile project, but not anything set in the Star Wars universe. 

He confirmed that HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us, which stars Pedro Pascal as well as another Game of Thrones alum, is in production, and Forbes previously reported that The Last of Us films in Calgary, Alberta, whereas The Mandalorian largely filmed the first two seasons in California.

And a more recent social media post shows that Pedro Pascal was still in Canada as recently as nine hours before Carl Weathers posted about returning to The Mandalorian for Season 3. It’s a very cool picture that may make plenty of fans want to take a drive to Canada, but not one that indicates he’s about to put his helmet as Mando back on. Take a look: 

Of course, Pedro Pascal’s Star Wars character spent almost the entire first two seasons hiding face behind a helmet, so Pascal working on The Last of Us in Canada certainly doesn’t mean that Mando will automatically be MIA from The Mandalorian, even if filming was to start as soon as Carl Weathers steps onto set. 

Pedro Pascal could simply let a stand-in or stunt double film the Mandalorian scenes that require Mando to be physically present, then record voiceovers. It wouldn’t be the first time, as the show used that method for full episodes in Season 1. He also weighed in on rumors that he demanded to show his face on The Mandalorian more, debunking them definitively. He furthermore had a fun and goofy post to celebrate May the 4th, so it seems pretty clear that Pascal hasn’t given up on Star Wars. 

It’s also possible that other Mandalorians like Bo-Katan and her supporters will take center stage in Season 3, but fans may want to prepare for the possibility of less of Pedro Pascal’s face when the show returns despite ending Season 2 with his helmet off. Then again, there are always pick-up shots to possibly show Pascal’s face without him necessarily filming a full episode. 

Whatever is happening with Pedro Pascal, at least we know for sure that Greef Karga will be back. (And Gina Carano as Cara Dune will not.) You can revisit the first two seasons of The Mandalorian streaming on Disney+ now, and look forward to The Book of Boba Fett debuting on the streamer in December. The Mandalorian Season 3 is expected in 2022.