Sasha Banks might be reaching a new level of her career. She’s currently the WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion. She also just had her major breakthrough in acting in Chapter 11 of The Mandalorian. It might not have been the Sabine Wren role that we all wanted, but what we got was certainly badass. The real-life Mercedes Varnado sat down with Variety and gave some major details about how she landed the role.
The interviewer asked just how she got the role in the first place, here was her answer.
It’s a huge deal. I still cannot get over it. It still does not feel real to me. The more interviews I do, the more I feel like ‘Oh, my God, holy–‘ I’m telling you right now, it still does not feel real to me. It’s frickin ‘Star Wars!’ One of the biggest franchises in the whole world, one of the biggest universes you can ever be a part of.
So Jon Favreau came to me because he watched an interview that I did with ‘Hot Ones.’ And he really liked me and got my contact information. Then on FaceTime he asked me to be part of ‘The Mandalorian.’ I was like, ‘Well, I cannot say no,’ but I was so incredibly nervous, because I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do it with the WWE schedule.You know, we used to travel a lot. But they made it work and everything happened. And it was such an incredible episode. I still just can’t get over how awesome that was. Not only to be part of ‘Star Wars,’ but one of legit the greatest episodes in the history of television like that. I could watch that all the time. That was such a bad ass introduction to the world of ‘Star Wars.’ I’m so thankful I saved Baby Yoda! I cannot get over it. Oh my god.
Sasha Banks to Variety
Sasha On Getting On Set For The Mandalorian The First Time
She also had an interesting quote about her first time on set. I’m sure for anyone that would be nerve-wracking to be on set for a show like The Mandalorian. But the Boss took it in stride.
It was beyond. Just like the first time ever seeing a wrestling ring. It’s like the first time ever seeing anything just so magical. I would hate to ruin like how it looked backstage, but you felt like you were in a different galaxy in a different world. It was so almost easy to play a Mandalorian because I was legit in the universe. And you know, Jon Favreau and David Filoni and Bryce Howard, they were so amazing towards me. Any questions I had, because I was so incredibly shy and nervous., they answered. But [Jon] reminded me ‘Uh, you do WWE every single week and you do that live. You are amazing. There’s a reason why I wanted you to be a part of the show.’ So that made me feel like home and I totally gained a whole new family and I’m just so thankful.
Sasha Banks to Variety
So here’s the key to everyone out there, go on Hot Ones. It’ll get you noticed by Jon Favreau. In reality, Banks is a multi-talented person in the world of entertainment. Hopefully this role in The Mandalorian gets her noticed by a wider range of people. Her work in WWE is top notch and she’s finally getting the shine that she’s deserved for years now. She has a match upcoming with Asuka at Survivor Series. You can watch that event on the WWE Network on November 22nd.
For more on Sasha Banks, WWE, The Mandalorian, or any other general pop culture, make sure to check back to That Hashtag Show.
Source: Variety
