Explainers

Who did Taika Waititi play on The Mandalorian? Chapter 8 director has fans wanting a new Star Wars movie

director taika waititi directed and starred in the mandalorian
Taika Waititi at the 11th Annual Governors Awards at the Dolby Theater. Pic credit: @ImageCollect.com/carrie-nelson

The Mandalorian Chapter 8 recently arrived at Disney+ and has fans raving over how epic it was. Taika Waititi took the reigns for the grand finale of the first season and also was one of the popular characters seen in several chapters.

Now, some fans are wanting more of the series, but also more Star Wars — with Waititi in charge.

Who was Taika Waititi in The Mandalorian?

For those who haven’t seen any episodes of The Mandalorian — what are you waiting for?

Be prepared for a lot of spoilers about Season 1 of the show in this article.

On Chapter 1 of the show, a bounty hunter, nicknamed the Mandalorian and Mando, shows up to a job to retrieve or kill an asset for a client. When he figures out where his target is being kept, he finds that a droid is also there trying to collect on the bounty.

That droid is an IG-11 — an interesting talking droid that has all sorts of abilities to walk, fight, and gun down opponents that are in the way. The droid and the Mandalorian team up in order to take out common enemies and gain entrance to where they must go to find the asset.

Playing the role, or at least voicing IG-11 on The Mandalorian, was Taika Waititi. The droid appears in three episodes of the series.

Waititi also directed Chapter 8: Redemption, which was the final episode to Season 1 of the highly-popular Disney+ series.

Taiki Waititi has fans wanting more

Lending his voice is only one thing Taika Waititi can do. He’s also an acclaimed director, as he helped bring Thor: Ragnarok to the screen and more recently directed JoJo Rabbit.

The latter of these films, a black comedy about a Hitler youth member who learns his mother is hiding a Jewish girl, is among this year’s Golden Globes nominees. It could also be on the way to the Academy Awards — based on the buzz. Waititi appears in that one too, as a boy’s imaginary friend — Adolph Hitler.

For Star Wars fans, seeing Taika Waititi’s translation unfold on the screen for the thrilling, emotional, and downright entertaining Season 1 finale episode has them begging Disney to make something happen. Why wasn’t this man attached to the new trilogy in some way, shape, or form? There’s still hope.

Fans took to Twitter to praise Waititi’s recent work while also playing up that suggestion.

Most likely, there are a few Mandalorian fans out there who believe in several of the other series directors, including Rick Famuyiwa, who took on Chapter 2 and Chapter 6. Meanwhile, while fans are clamoring for more of The Mandalorian, and Season 2 is already on the way, it’s great to see renewed interest in Star Wars movies.

As of now, there are no reported plans for Taika Waititi to direct one, as he’s got 2021’s Thor: Love and Thunder on his upcoming project list for Marvel. That said, just the fact that he’s working with Marvel and that fans are speaking highly of his Mandalorian finale could open the door. That’s a good thing for fans of Baby Yoda, Mando, and IG-11.

Get Taika on a Star Wars movie. This is the way.

The Mandalorian episodes are available for streaming on Disney+.

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