The Star Wars franchise has seen many celebrity cameos come and go, but fans took instant offence at the appearance of Lizzo and Jack Black in episode 6 of The Mandalorian, calling their scenes out as the death of the franchise. While this may sound a little over dramatic, the opinion was shared by many online users, who called out the show for taking away the ability for them to be immersed in the Star Wars Universe when big-name celebrities were put front and center on screen.
Black and Lizzo appeared in The Mandalorian as Captain Bombardier and The Duchess respectively, rulers of the Outer Rim planet Plazir-15 who engage Din Djarin and Bo-Katan to discovery the root of a rogue droid problem. It seems though that some took a particular dislike to this kind of cameo, with one Twitter user saying that Disney have made the Star Wars franchise “for the popular kids who giggled & high-fives the bullies for stuffing you in your locker.” They also called out the franchise for no longer being “for us nerds.”
Although the cameos were divisive, it was clear from the many similar reactions that a lot of those fans who believe the Star Wars franchise is made for them and only them are not impressed by such prominent celebrities showing up in the show, not matter how they fit into the story. You can see some of the comments below.
One Star Wars Icon Believes Star Wars Needs Its Big Name Cameos To Build Its Audience
It seems that one person who is not at all against this type of of cameo appearance is Star Wars legend Billy Dee Williams. As one of of the original trilogy’s stars, Williams certainly earns his opinion on the modern era of the franchise, and as he noted to TMZ, cameos by stars such as Lizzo and Jack Black are what get new fans interested in the saga. He said:
“It’s a good idea, there’s no question about it. I mean the whole idea is to try and bring it to the younger people today, and you have to utilize the people who are popular today. I mean it’s a business, you can’t forget about that part of it. You’re always trying to build an audience, so building an audience means you have to incorporate or bring in the sensibilities of a younger group of people so you have to use the wonderful talented people who are very popular today to attract new audiences.”
One curious thing to note is that there were not many social media users who had an issue with Back to the Future star Christopher Lloyd also appearing in the episode and in fact appearing in a scene with Lizzo and Black. However, Star Wars has never been far from including some big name cameos, although many are often used as droid voices or behind Storm Trooper helmets. Perhaps this episode just had its celebrities a bit too in your face for some fans to handle.
