In The Mandalorian and Grogu, the titular main duo continue their struggle against the galaxy’s lingering Imperial Remnants when they’re set on the trail of the movie’s main villain: an ex-Imperial by the name of Commander Coin, played by actor Jonny Coyne.
In the run-up to release, the bad guy’s name was surrounded by mystery: director Jon Favreau even teased to Empire magazine “you’ll like his character name when you hear it.” While Coyne’s character appeared briefly in The Mandalorian season 3’s Shadow Council scene, which featured a collection of Imperials scheming against the New Republic, his character was unnamed.
Ahead of the film’s arrival in theaters, Coyne’s character was identified only as Lord Janu. But, now that the film is finally here, we know Lord Janu and Commander Coin are one and the same – and that Coyne’s Star Wars name is very similar to his real name.
“I don’t know how my name got involved in the mix,” Coyne tells GamesRadar+. “But at some point when I first got introduced to Jon when I was doing the series – well, the one episode that I did of the series – he said, ‘Listen, I hope you don’t mind, but we kind of like your name, we’re just going to maybe call you Commander Coin.'”
There’s even more serendipity to this considering that some of Coyne’s friends gave him the nickname Commander Coyne when he first arrived in LA, “and, next thing you know, I’m playing that character.” Though as for Janu, he says, “I don’t know where that came from.”
Commander Coin has a double life as a crime lord on the moon of Shakari, where he operates a fighting ring with Rotta the Hutt as his star warrior. “He’s running a club where he makes money prize fighting people, a gladiatorial show for people to make money from,” Coyne explains. “He’s a bad guy, he is from the Empire, but they’re all trying to make a living on the side.”
While previous Star Wars villains have been lightsaber-wielding Sith Lords, Commander Coin is a different type of bad guy. “I was kind of hoping that I might get a chance to do a much more scary thing, but Jon was very determined to make him a very, very real non-Star Wars kind of character without the [mimes Darth Vader breathing], none of that stuff going on,” says Coyne. “He wanted to make him a very real person, and I enjoyed that.”
As you might expect from Star Wars, though, the role was shrouded in secrecy, much like the character’s name, even for the actor playing him. “I was given the script: one day to read it,” says Coyne. “I had to come into Manhattan Studios and take a MacBook, and read it off an iPad, and read it, and then hand the thing back, signed in, signed out. You weren’t allowed to take it away with you. So I had the script for two hours, and tried to immerse myself as much as I could into that.
“The rest of the time, I just got the lines piecemeal, literally just like the line across a screen, and I would try and read it and learn it until the day when I had the sides in my trailer, that’s when I had the actual paperwork in front of me,” he continues. “So, it was really hard to develop a whole storyline, but it was clear what he was, he was a bad guy, and he was still immersed in that world, and they were still working as the Shadow Council to defeat the Rebellion. And what they’re up to is not clear, but it’s clearly bad, and along the way, these Shadow Council are scattered around the galaxy, and they’re doing mischief and trying to make money and trying to make a living out of it.”
But, Coyne did get some context courtesy of Favreau when the director pitched him the role after he’d already signed up to the movie. “[He told me] what he plans to do with my character, and he showed me graphics of my sets that I’d be using,” Coyne says. “I had very much practical sets, real sets, as opposed to the Volume and green screen, a lot of things like that. So, I got to play on the real stage, as it were, and that, well, for my little mind, it was much more helpful. I need to touch things.”
Indeed, Star Wars has a reputation for beautiful hand-crafted sets and critters, which Coyne got to experience first hand. “My club, the arena, my office were all very real places, and yeah, I think I benefited from that, really,” he says. “It helped me tremendously.”
That classic commitment to practical filmmaking even extended to a large scale action scene involving stormtroopers and a speeder chase, in which Mando, Grogu, and Zeb Orrelios attempt to escape Coin’s compound. “What is brilliant about the guys who do these movies, is that they do introduce modern technology, modern techniques into making these movies, but they never forget the old ways, the old techniques,” says Coyne. “So, when I’m in the speeder, you just got a couple of guys with big long poles, just shaking it around. You’re just being shook by poles. It’s old school attached to the new school. How they put it together is brilliant.”
Not everything could really be on set, however: Rotta the Hutt is, as you might expect, a CGI creation (his papa Jabba might have been a real puppet, but Jabba never moved like Rotta…). “It is a wonder when you watch it, how it’s all going to come together,” reflects Coyne. “So, you’re working with guys who are standing in for the various creatures that are fighting in that arena, including Rotta, and you think, ‘Is that going to be convincing? It’s just a guy in a sort of tail, with a tail stuck to him.’ But it comes together beautifully, I think. Whatever they do in that magic world of CGI is extraordinary.”
As for whether we could ever see Commander Coin again, Coyne isn’t getting ahead of himself. “I got to do a Star Wars movie,” he says. “I’d be greedy to say, ‘Can I have another one, please?’ It’s great. As far as I’m concerned, I’m made up. I’ve done as much as most actors would dream of doing, so I’m very happy with my situation. Will there be more? Yeah, bring it on if they can. But, I’m happy where I am.”
The Mandalorian and Grogu is in theaters now. For more, check out our guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies and shows, or our roundup of how to watch the Star Wars movies in order.
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