All the bright-eyed Star Wars fans out there were in for a bit of a shock when the extremely not Star Wars-adjacent comedian Bill Burr first showed up in season 1 of The Mandalorian. That shock only intensified when Burr just so happened to put on one of the most powerful performances of the whole series upon his return as Mayfield in season 2. So how did this jocular man manage to find his way into one of the most well-known franchises on the planet?
Well, it turns out things got moving the same way much of Burr's career keeps moving forward, because of comedy. The comedian was never really meant to be some galaxy-shaping presence in the eminent pew pew franchise. It all started because Jon Favreau, the showrunner for The Mandalorian, thought it would be funny to include someone like Burr who spends more time making fun of Star Wars than watching it. But apparently, that was enough.
"I was never into the Star Wars thing, by the time I saw it I was too old, Ewoks and stuff," Burr explained while on the Your Mom's House Podcast. "I ran into Jon [Favreau] somewhere... [Favreau said] 'I'm doing this Star Wars thing do you want to do something?' and I'm like 'I don't know, I'm kind of always making fun of it.' And he goes 'I think it would be funny, I think your fans would get a kick out of the fact you're in it.'" So not only did Burr's inclusion in the series come from a chance encounter, but it was always meant to be sort of a "wait, that guy?" moment when he appeared on the screen.
Here's the funny part (or at least another funny part). While Burr started out as someone who didn't care for Star Wars, apparently something about The Mandalorian really drew him in when he finally showed up on set. "I went in there and they’re shooting it like a Spaghetti Western and I was like immediately so psyched to be apart of it," he added. It's not particularly surprising, given how most folks didn't expect the more classic western feel of the series. In fact, that's probably a big reason why it became the huge hit it is now, even leading to multiple Emmy nominations.
The Mandalorian has drawn in a number of unexpected stars, from Timothy Olyphant to Rosario Dawson (who even has her own spinoff as Ahsoka Tano coming up). So it may not be all that much of a surprise that Favreau and his team would be willing to think so outside the box as to bring in someone like Burr. But given how he basically killed it in season 2, it seems as though they know what they're doing.
Perhaps that means season 3 will see even more surprise guest stars. The Mandalorian has sort of become the Star Wars version of Columbo in terms of how many big names it's been wrangling in, so why not push that envelope to its absolute limit?
The Mandalorian seasons 1-2 are now available on Disney Plus.
Source: Your Mom's House Podcast/YouTube