There is little doubt that Moff Gideon is a villain who is obviously inspired by the Star Wars baddies who came before him but also manages to stand out on his own. Not surprisingly, Giancarlo Esposito has just admitted that his inspiration for his character in The Mandalorian was inspired by Peter Cushing in the original film trilogy.
Esposito recently took part in a short feature titled Untold With Giancarlo Esposito that has been shared by Star Wars. In the video, the Breaking Bad actor stated that he enjoyed watching the original trilogy when he was growing up and he was intrigued by Darth Vader.
"I've been a very big fan of the early Star Wars movies and the world in which they exist," Esposito said. "I always was fascinated by Darth Vader. I thought that inside that very, very hard, coarse exterior could be a human being that had the ability to bring some light to our space odyssey in our galaxy."
Esposito continued by admitting that he was inspired by Cushing who played Moff Tarkin in the original Star Wars trilogy.
"I was strongly affected by Peter Cushing who also played a Moff many, many years ago. And tried to do some research, because I knew the fans knew a whole lot more than I did about Star Wars," he said.
This is an awesome confirmation considering that Tarkin is the best known Moff in the Star Wars Universe. In addition to that, Cushing's influence is obvious in the way Esposito portrayed his own character. Needless to say, those Moffs are people to truly watch out for.
There are speculations that Esposito will return as Gideon in The Mandalorian Season 3. Stay tuned for more updates on this story.