Pedro Pascal is staying within the “Star Wars” family, but this time, for an indie film. IndieWire can confirm that the “Mandalorian” actor is in talks to lead “Andor” creator Tony Gilroy‘s feature “Behemoth!” for Searchlight Pictures. Deadline reported that the deal is not yet closed.
The plot remains still under wraps but the feature is believed to be centered on a cellist. Oscar Isaac was originally attached in the lead role, which Pascal is now eyeing. Gilroy will produce the yet-untitled film along with Sanne Wohlenberg. Principal photography will begin this fall in Los Angeles, with release plans to be announced at a later date.
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Pascal has been playing musical chairs to juggle his full slate of projects: The actor appeared in “The Last of Us: Season 2, “Materialists,” “Eddington,” and “Fantastic Four: First Steps” all in 2025. He will reprise his “Fantastic Four” role of Reed Richards for “Avengers: Doomsday” and will be back as the Mandalorian Din Djarin for “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu.”
Pascal exited Zach Cregger’s buzzy horror film “Weapons” to star in “Fantastic Four: First Steps.” Cregger recently told Entertainment Weekly that Pascal’s “schedule threw us into turmoil” and led to an entirely “different cast” being in the final feature. (Pascal’s character Archer was played by Josh Brolin.)
And Pascal taking over for Isaac with the Gilroy film is also nothing new: Isaac is starring in Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” as scientist Victor Frankenstein. Andrew Garfield was originally set to star in the lead role as the monster, yet due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, he exited the project following scheduling conflicts, much like what happened with Pascal and “Weapons.” Jacob Elordi replaced Garfield just nine weeks before shooting.
Garfield has been rumored to have picked starring in Luca Guadagnino’s “After the Hunt” instead of “Frankenstein.” (Garfield was first set to star in Guadagnino’s 2010 feature “I Am Love” and the slated “Brideshead Revisited” series.)
Garfield later told Deadline that Elordi “needed” the experience of working with del Toro more than he did. “I’m very, very glad that it was him doing it and I am of course disappointed that I didn’t get to do it because I love Guillermo, I love Oscar [Isaac] and everyone that he assembled, so I was disappointed,” Garfield said. “But meeting Jacob [at the Marrakech International Film Festival] felt really serendipitous so that I could really see and hear that maybe he needed that experience more than me.”
