Just days after it was reported that Rosario Dawson is portraying Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Rebels’ fan-favorite Ahsoka Tano in the upcoming second season of The Mandalorian, another exciting casting reveal has hit the web. Terminator’s original Kyle Reese, Michael Biehn has been cast in the Disney+ series too. It will be the first major role by the now 63-year-old actor in years.
Just as The Mandalorian enlisted ‘80s icon Carl Weathers to play Greef Carga in the series’ debut season, Michael Biehn is similarly a high-profile star of the era. Along with playing Kyle Reese in James Cameron’s 1984 sci-fi epic, he was also Corporal Hicks in 1986’s Aliens and Lt. Coffey in The Abyss. The actor is also known for his roles in 1996’s The Rock, 2007’s Grindhouse and as Johnny Ringo 1993’s Tombstone.
The news comes via Making Star Wars, which previously revealed the codename The Mandalorian used for the character during production was “Huckleberry”, seemingly as a reference to Tombstone. Michael Biehn will be playing a bounty hunter from the past of Pedro Pascal’s Dyn Djarin, per the report. The question is whether Biehn’s role will actually take place in the form of flashbacks or as a reunion in the show’s present timeline as Mando continues to adventure with The Child, a.k.a. Baby Yoda.
One possible interesting connection on set comes from a February update that alleged Robert Rodriguez would be among the crew for The Mandalorian Season 2. Rodriguez and Michael Biehn worked together for Grindhouse’s Planet Terror segment. Oh, and Rosario Dawson was part of the Death Proof segment of the cult project.
Michael Biehn is certainly an exciting addition to The Mandalorian, which is shaping up to be packed with talent in its second season. Along with the return of Pedro Pascal’s Mando, Gina Carano’s Cara Dune will return, along with Carl Weathers’ Greef Carga. It’s also been announced that Bill Burr’s Mayfeld will also continue to have a role in the Disney+ show.
Season 2 of The Mandalorian began production back in October ahead of the show's launch on the streaming service. It wrapped shooting in early March, bringing good news to fans of the show. Many television productions have been stalled by the ongoing spread of COVID-19 in the past couple weeks. It looks like The Mandalorian finished just before it might have needed to pack things up.
The Mandalorian is expected to premiere on Disney+ this October along with the streaming platform’s highly-anticipated Marvel shows The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Wandavision set to drop during the second half of 2020 as well.
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