‘The Mandalorian’ star teases their character’s mysterious backstory

The Mandalorian star Emily Swallow has revealed that even she doesn’t know much about her character’s enigmatic past, because producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are keeping those details under wraps for the time being.

In a recent interview with ScreenRant, Swallow explained why not knowing a lot about the Armorer has helped her to portray the wizened sage as an archetypal figure in Mando’s life, a symbol that’s only defined by the respect the other members of the tribe, and more specifically Din Djarin, give her.

“Jon and Dave tell me remarkably little, which I appreciate. They leave it up to me. I usually do come up with a pretty detailed backstory for characters, but I haven’t with her. I think part of that is it changes a lot for her. I find that it changes depending on the needs of the moment she’s having because she is such an archetypal figure. She represents so many ideas. She represents this larger influence in Din Djarin’s life. I find that it’s helpful not to attach super-specific, personal things to her.”

And even if the producers fail to provide personal information about the character, Swallow tends to fill in the gaps herself depending on what a particular sequence requires.

“I do that for more personal moments. I do that for more personal interactions that she has with him. I do sort of attach things that I can connect to that I think would help for individual scenes. But I find that it’s constantly shifting, depending on what new information they give me for what’s going to happen in an episode. I say, ‘Oh, well, actually, maybe it’s more helpful if this is where she’s coming from.’ Or maybe, ‘Oh, maybe this happened in her past.’ So I still haven’t pinned her down, and I like that about her.”

We admittedly don’t know a lot about the Armorer, other than the fact that she served as a leader to one of the astray Mandalorian tribes after the Night of a Thousand Tears, when the Imperial army carpet-bombed Mandalore and killed tens of millions of its inhabitants. The Armorer follows the Way of Mandalore, which, according to Bo-Katan Kryze, consists of religious zealots that broke away from the real Mandalorian society.

Emily Swallow is almost guaranteed to make a comeback to the series after banishing its titular protagonist in The Book of Boba Fett. Whether that return occurs in the upcoming third season, due to arrive in February, is anyone’s guess.