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The Mandalorian big bad Giancarlo Esposito had just one requirement to join the Star Wars universe: a cape, and one that worked in a very specific way

Giancarlo Esposito was all-in when director John Favreau called him about appearing as the main bad guy in Disney+ show The Mandalorian. He just had one request and it involved fashion.

Giancarlo Esposito in The Mandalorian — Image credit: Lucasfilm

News by Joseph Pete, Contributing Writer

Published on Fri Sep 26 2025

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The darksaber-wielding former Imperial Security Bureau officer Moff Gideon has been one of the standout villains of modern-day Star Wars. Giancarlo Esposito was all in to play the warlord and would-be child kidnapper on The Mandalorian when his frequent collaborator Jon Favreau called. Favreau asked if he had any special requests. He just had one. And it involved fashion. In an era of countless superhero films and shows, and like Darth Vader before him, Esposito wanted to don a cape of his own.

"And I said, well, Jon, first of all I want to work with you. I like working with you, so we'll figure it out. And I want to have a cape," Esposito says at GalaxyCon New Orleans. "He said, 'That's done.' And that was a done deal."

The panel's moderator notes it's a very nice cape, and his capeography was always on point in the show. His co-star Emily Swallow, who plays The Armorer, quips he knows how to work it.

"I stood in the mirror. You know, when I got that cape, I was in the dressing room swinging it around," he says. "So, everybody leave. And I was like, 'whoop, whoop, whoop."

The moderator jokes she pictures Moff Gideon at a store saying this cape doesn't swish right. Swallow jokes he was very particular about his cape.

"Well, it was particular because the way it drapes over the shoulders, it had to be fitted a certain way and it has to be in a way behind you," Espisito says. "So when it's too far forward, you can't quite get the same, you know, movement on it. So, we got it in the right place, and it was perfect I didn't want to move, but I wanted it to move when I walked faster to have it just naturally go behind me and we got it right."

The Mandalorian & Grogu film is slated to be released in theaters by Disney in 2026.

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