THE MANDALORIAN: Mercedes Varnado Reveals The Surprising Way She Was Cast In The Disney+ TV Series

Mercedes Varnado/Sasha Banks had a small, yet memorable role as Koska Reeves in a recent episode of The Mandalorian, and the actress has now revealed the strange story of how she was cast in the show.

By JoshWilding - Nov 26, 2020 05:11 AM EST

Filed Under: The Mandalorian

Mercedes Varnado is best known as WWE Superstar Sasha Banks, and given what a devoted bunch wrestling fans tend to be, it's no great surprise that she doesn't regularly check her DMs!

However, that could have been a very costly mistake for the pro wrestler and actress who appeared in The Mandalorian's "Chapter 11" as Bo-Katan's right-hand woman, Koska Reeves.

"One day, for some reason, I was going through my Instagram DMs, which I normally don’t go through, and a casting director messaged me and said, 'Jon Favreau really wants to interview you for something for Disney,'" Varnado recalls. "And I was like, 'Oh my god, OK!' And the next thing I know, I got a FaceTime from him and he told me about The Mandalorian. I just couldn’t even believe it."

"I was like, 'What? Is this for real?' I’m so used to WWE and the wrestling realm that I could not believe this was happening," she continues. "At the click of my fingers, we were shooting on set and now it’s here. It’s so awesome. And, at the same time, I’m the WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion, so life is really cool and crazy right now."

Talking of SmackDown, Varnado went on to explain how her in-ring persona influenced her character in The Mandalorian.

"I also put in a lot of my wrestling character, as well as the moves. Instantly, you see me do a drop kick, an elbow and a fireman’s carry. Maybe Star Wars fans don’t know what that is but my fans do. So I wanted to bring so many different elements to my character that I hope I can explore more and more someday."

The way fans have responded to this episode all but confirms that we will see more of this trio of Mandalorians before too long, as their quest for the Darksaber is bound to bring them back into contact with Din Djarin. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like we'll be seeing them again during season two.

What did you think about Koska Reeves in The Mandalorian?

Click on the "Next" button below to check out
some revealing concept art from "The Siege."

Now he's done stealing Frog Lady's eggs, The Child has turned his attentions to cookies. When his classmate on Nevarro refuses to share his treat, the adorable creature uses his Force powers to take them, and that leads to one of the show's funniest moments to date later in the episode.

Nevarro has changed a lot since we last visited the planet, and that's thanks to Greef Karga and Cara Dune. Earlier in the episode, we saw her taking down some thieves, though the creature she saves definitely didn't have the ability to breathe fire; clearly something changed during shooting!

The Imperial base is another of Moff Gideon's projects, though we caught a glimpse of some deformed clones there (one of whom looked an awful lot like Supreme Leader Snoke). The Child's "M-Count" appears to be vital to this process, and that's obviously a reference to Midi-chlorians.

As Din Djarin jetted back to make sure The Child was safe, Cara Dune and Greef Karga (alongside the Mythrol) made their way back to town...with the Empire on their tale! It was one of the show's best action sequences to date, and proved that Carl Weathers is a great fit for the Star Wars franchise.

"The Siege" ended with a visit aboard Moff Gideon's ship, though it wasn't a traditional Star Destroyer! Instead, the villain appears to be in charge of an Arquitens class ship. Those are most commonly associated with The Clone Wars, and while they were once used primarily by the Jedi, the Empire later made use of Arquitens-class command cruisers, so that's likely what we see here.

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11 Comments

Feralwookiee - 11/26/2020, 5:51 AM

Sorta related: Disney dumps another 32,000 employees. Expect a LOT more layoffs in the next few months in the U.S. Good times. 😑https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/26/media/disney-layoffs/index.html

billnye69 - 11/26/2020, 4:56 PM

@Feralwookiee - The truly sad thing here is, laying off a single board member would pay for those 32k employees. Remember, the guy making minimum wage gets laid off before the guy making a 1mil a year takes a pay cut.

Feralwookiee - 11/26/2020, 5:19 PM

@billnye69 - I know it personally. But, that's how it works. I was one of 850 people laid off at my former job, due to budget shortfalls "due to covid"; meanwhile, none of the top brass were let go, or took a pay cut. Instead, they chucked nearly a thousand maintaince guys, janitors, etc, while the Assistant to the Assistant to the guy who sends out an email once in awhile makes 6 figures.

Now, I'm pushing 50 and out of work, making $150 a week less, but my bills are going up, and no real job prospects in sight with this pandemic ongoing. Awesome huh. There will be a lot more of this to come and the majority of these jobs are not coming back.

billnye69 - 11/27/2020, 4:47 PM

@Feralwookiee - I have a similar story from my sister.

My sister is an RPN (Registered Practical Nurse) and she works in a private "End of Life" care home, last year they got a new CEO. My sister happened to over hear a conversation she wasn't supposed to and heard that the CEO was going to double her own wage from 200k a year to 400k a year.

Now, the facility couldn't layoff anyone because they were already at the legal limit of staff to patient ratio. (Basically, they were under staffed) The following week, all staff got a memo saying that the facility was low on funds and anyone with cost saving ideas, to come forward to their supervisors.

She was really pissed off because she had worked a few shifts where she was the only nurse on duty, trying to care for 2 floors worth of patients, trying to feed and give out medications all by herself. She ended up giving the Director of Care (Different person from the CEO) for her home an ear full. lol

Feralwookiee - 11/27/2020, 5:22 PM

@billnye69 - That is an amazing, and terrible story, and thanks for sharing.

Just goes to show what I've always believed; us "little people" have never, and will never count to the powers that be. We are simply commodities and none of us are "essential" in their eyes.

bkmeijer2 - 11/26/2020, 8:08 AM

What is meant here with ''devoted bunch of fans''? If they're just a group of fans, might it be weird to assume she might actually engage through Instagram with them?

Pretty cool though that's how she got cast though, and I can see it happening more in the future too. Wouldn't be suprised if a few directors were approached this way too.

nickh0801 - 11/27/2020, 6:54 AM

Go away Botcha Skanks!!!

"Like, OMG, I got the role by opening up my DM's on the Insta" How crazy is that!?!

THE MANDALORIAN: Mercedes Varnado Reveals The Surprising Way She Was Cast In The Disney+ TV Series

Mercedes Varnado/Sasha Banks had a small, yet memorable role as Koska Reeves in a recent episode of The Mandalorian, and the actress has now revealed the strange story of how she was cast in the show.

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