Star Wars is undoubtedly one of the most important franchises of all time. Whether you’re a fan or not, you’ve definitely heard of the franchise and know some names from it. You will also probably know at least several Star Wars titles, as they are among the most popular works that can be seen or discussed today.

After Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilms, the franchise has been changing – and not always for the better – as well as expanding, which led to the production of more Star Wars content. One of the series produced as part of this expansion was the popular series The Mandalorian, starring Pedro Pascal as the titular protagonist.

The series has been a massive hit around the world, but it has also caused some controversy, most notably over the firing of Gina Carano, although it seems that another controversy might be heading our way, as an extra has revealed a very interesting practice that the producers of The Mandalorian applied.

This report is actually inspired by an interview that Nicole Kreuzer, an extra who worked on the first season of The Mandalorian (which was filmed in 2018), gave to Capital & Main, in which she described a very interesting, albeit strange practice. Namely, as she reveals, their phones were locked away during production to protect information leaking, but at one point, the actress was called in for scanning, and more than 100 cameras scanned and photographed her face.

This was part of the production process, which shouldn’t be all that surprising, knowing that The Mandalorian relies a lot on CGI, which means that it is easier to digitally create special effects than to actually do all the necessary stunts and potentially endanger people’s lives. But, according to Kreuzer, this wasn’t the only thing they were doing.

Namely, it seems that the producers wanted to scan the extras’ faces so that they could ultimately use them in the production process later without actually having to pay for so many extras, which she found horrible. She also claims she had wanted to refuse but was afraid for her job and future opportunities, so she ultimately agreed to it.

Ironically, Kreuzer says that she – and many others who underwent the same procedure – was promised more work on the series after this (the daily salary was $170), but that did not happen; she also said that she was unable to call her union because her phone was locked away. At one point, she asked:

“Could they make me be in a sexual situation with another scanned person? Could they make me protest for something that I would never believe in in real life?”

Source: Capital & Main

This definitely seems like a valid concern considering everything, and this is actually one of the major reasons that initiated the recent SAG-AFTRA strike, which resulted in new contracts and the restriction of AI in filmmaking processes, especially when they are applied to actual people.

What everyone is wondering, though, is – did Kathleen Kennedy know? Although she is definitely not the one responsible for this practice, it is unlikely that she did not know that it was going on. She is the supervisor of all Star Wars projects, and such a decision would definitely have to go through her before being used as a practice. It is somewhat worrying that Disney (and Lucasfilm) accepted such practices so many years ago, but we hope that the SAG-AFTRA strike contracts will help all the people involved in the filmmaking process.

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