The following story contains very light spoilers for Season 2, Episode 1, "The Marshal," of The Mandalorian. Don't continue reading unless if you understand this!
- The Mandalorian opened Season 2 with a fun scene featuring a surprising guest star.
- You may not have realized who was playing Gor Koresh—but it was actor John Leguizamo.
- Leguizamo is one of the busiest actors in the industry, and he previously collaborated with The Mandalorian showrunner Jon Favreau on his movie Chef.
One of the most fun perks of the first season of The Mandalorian—and having someone as connected and in such fun corners of the entertainment industry as Jon Favreau as showrunner—was the fact that each episode seemed to have at least one really fun, surprising guest star along for the ride. In one case, that was Bill Burr looking and acting just like his usual self as a mercenary. In another, it was Amy Sedaris (who has worked with Favreau many times before, most notably in Elf) as a technician on Tatooine. And in some cases, like in the Season 2 premiere episode "The Marshal," it was a familiar face—John Leguizamo—rendered unfamiliar under a whole lot of makeup.
The season 2 finale opens with a scene of Mando—real name Din Djarin—heading to an underground fighting ring to see someone named Gor Koresh, who he believes has information on how to find the surviving Mandalorians. Koresh, who turns out to be a green, one-eyed, scumbag gangster, is sponsoring a Gamorrean—who we've seen before in Star Wars as guards for Jabba the Hutt—fighting another Gamorrean in an axe battle. His guy is losing, so he kills the opponent; and reveals the entire meeting to be a set-up to try to steal Mando's Beskar steel armor.
This kind of scam is so beneath Mando and the thugs simply do not even realize it. While he's vastly outnumbered, his whistling birds and general fighting skills level that playing field pretty quickly. While he tries to lumber away, Mando traps and hooks Koresh, hanging him upside down and promising him he "won't die by his hand" before demanding the information. Koresh tells him that the Mandalorian he knows of is in the city of Mos Pelgo on Tatooine, and that he can find him there. Mando keeps his promise, but won't untie him—we see some red-eyed creatures close in on Koresh as the opening credits and theme song blast.
It takes until the closing credits for audiences to realize that Gor Koresh is actually played by someone they've certainly seen in many of their favorite movies before, in Leguizamo. The 56-year-old appeared alongside Favreau in his movie Chef (which Favreau also directed), and also appeared on an episode of his fun talk show Dinner for Five—so clearly this duo gets along.
Leguizamo has starred across mediums, appearing on TV before in shows such as Waco, Bloodline, and When They See Us, movies like Moulin Rouge, John Wick, and the Ice Age series, and has written and starred in many Broadway productions, most recently Latin History for Morons, which ran from late 2017 to early 2018.
While Leguizamo hasn't yet tweeted about his surprise role inThe Mandalorian, he does appear to be a Star Wars fan, having tweeted about the series and tangentially related things involved with the franchise on a handful of occasions.
Koresh almost certainly got eaten alive, so we're guessing this is a one-off appearance for Mr. Leguizamo. But was that a fun character or what? Season 2 is off to the races, and certainly not looking back any time soon.
