Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive show news, updates, and more!
Sasha Banks Explains How Her WWE Training Helped Boba Fett's Fights In 'The Mandalorian'
As "Star Wars" fans await Season 3 of "The Mandalorian," Superstar Sasha Banks is giving new insight into Season 2's epic battles.
More than just fans of WWE are able to recognize Sasha Banks after her latest on-screen role in the award-winning "Star Wars" series, "The Mandalorian," in which she plays Mandalorian Koska Reeves.
Banks recently went on "Star Wars" podcast “Ahch-To Radio” to discuss her role in "The Mandalorian" as well as how she was able to bring a few of her WWE skills to the screen. In the show, Banks' character fights legendary bounty hunter-turned-later-"Daimyo" Boba Fett (portrayed by Temuera Morrison). Banks revealed that one of the series' directors wanted her to do normal fight scene acrobatics, but The Boss suggested using WWE moves — such as a DDT — to give the scene some extra flair.
“I was looking at Boba and I was like, 'I think I could do something better.’ So I just took the guy by the head and was like, 'Just hold my hips, I am going to run up this wall, we are going to flip, and I am going to DDT you.' We rehearsed it, and we did it, and then [showrunner] Jon Favreau came out of the back and was just like, 'That was it, that's what we're going to do,'" she said.
(Click here to see some of WWE's best DDT finishers.)
Although Banks hitting an Arm Drag and a Headlock Takeover was not in the original plans for the scene, it helped Banks look natural in her first non-wrestling role on screen. During the interview, Banks also talked about how nervous she was to participate in the "Star Wars" franchise, and how her WWE maneuvers got the rest of the cast excited.
“I think fans will like this a bit better if I can add a little bit more professional wrestling into it. So, when I finally got to do that DDT it felt so cool to bring that sense of wrestling world to 'Star Wars.' I was in my element. That was the one scene where I was like, 'I got this,' all the fighting stuff, going through the table, that's just my realm," she said.
Only time will tell if Sasha Banks and her tag team partner, Naomi, eventually make a return to the WWE. In the meantime, you can watch Sasha Banks in Season 2 of "The Mandalorian" or on the WWE Network on Peacock.
