With the launch of Disney+ just over a week away, Vanity Fair has released a first look at Ming-Na Wen’s new Star Wars character from the highly-anticipated original series The Mandalorian.
- Wen will portray an assassin names Fennec Shand who will cross paths with Pedro Pascal’s masked bounty hunter midway through the first season of the new Disney+ original series.
- Our first look at Wen’s character comes in a new 30-second teaser for the upcoming series.
- Wen explained her character a bit, saying “We got our inspiration really from the name. The idea of a fennec fox came to mind. She’s tricky, and yet she’s able to maneuver and survive, and be stealthy—so very graceful and agile. I just love that whole image with the name.”
- Wen also explained that her character doesn’t have any real allegiance, saying “Thinking that she’s a mercenary, it can go either way. think it remains to be seen. She is definitely someone who’s loyal to herself.”
- “It will evolve, it will change. I mean, I think that’s what’s so wonderful about creating a new character,” Wen said to Vanity Fair, in regards to her character’s backstory. “I think she has a good sense of humor about it all as well, which is also fun. You can’t really pinpoint which direction she’s going to go.”
- Star Wars has always been a big part of Wen’s life. It’s definitely a film that has had such an impact in so many people’s lives, including my own,” she said. “As an Asian kid in Pittsburgh, and especially in Mount Lebanon, sometimes you feel very alone and very isolated. And I think for me, with Star Wars, I connected so much with Luke having these dreams and wanting something bigger and better than being a little farmer in Tatooine. Just that image of him looking at the binary suns and wishing for more, it always stays with me.”
- Wen also shared her thoughts on the character’s look, focusing first on her hair. “At first, the idea was maybe just have her hair be loose, unkempt kind of thing,” she said. “And I thought, Well, she’s going to be wearing a helmet and she’s this stealth assassin. How great would it be if her hair has a bit of the fennec fox architecture to it? So the hairstylist came up with this great braiding system, that just gives an idea of these triangular points. Like her ears.”
- She then focused in on the costume, saying “The designer, Joseph [Porro,] came up with this amazing outfit that I fell in love with right away. It’s black, but then there’s the fennec orange punch to it. So that’s kind of like her brand, I guess.”
- And finally, Wen teased what kind of weapons we might see her use in The Mandalorian. “She has quite a few weapons because she’s a very skilled fighter,” she said. “Just her body is a weapon in and of itself. And she does carry…a big, big gun. A big boy.”
The Mandalorian will begin streaming on Disney+ when the service launches on November 12.