Timothy Olyphant made a huge splash with Star Wars fans when he popped up in the Season 2 premiere of The Mandalorian as Cobb Vanth, an armor-wearing space marshal who was reminiscent of his popular lawman roles on Justified and Deadwood. But what fans might not have noticed is that there was a bit of a mini reunion happening on the western-themed episode. The unnamed Weequay bartender in the cantina where Mando first meets Cobb Vantha was played by W. Earl Brown, who starred as bartender Dan Dority on HBO’s Deadwood.
With the episode out in the open, Brown was finally free to reveal how his role in the Season 2 premiere came about, and how he had to keep secret for almost an entire year. In a lengthy Twitter thread that started with Brown almost turning down the part because he didn’t want to work with prosthetics again after having a bad experience on Angel, the actor recalled his first day of set with Olyphant where the two regaled the crew by reenacting scenes from Deadwood. After showrunner Jon Favreau gushed about being a fan of the HBO series, Brown saw an opening to hopefully work a famous insult from the show into The Mandalorian.
Needless to say, it wasn’t going to fly on a Disney+ show.
https://twitter.com/WEarlBrown/status/1322229004183564289
https://twitter.com/WEarlBrown/status/1322229189601239040
The whole thread is worth a read as Brown opens up about seeing Baby Yoda for the first time, which was a total surprise to the actor. Production on The Mandalorian was done so far in advance that Brown’s episode was actually filmed as the first season started to air on Disney+. However, in a surprise twist, his wife works for Disney and knew about The Child the whole time. Imagine keeping that secret from your spouse.
(Via W. Earl Brown on Twitter)
