Sasha Banks garnered great buzz when fans found out she would be in the Star Wars franchise.
The former Smackdown Women’s Champion temporarily traded in her wrestling boots and ‘Boss’ moniker for interstellar gear as Koska Reeves. Within The Mandalorian series, Reeves battled beside Bo-Katan Kryze, as they sought to repossess the Mandalore. In speaking on AHCH To-Radio: A Star Wars Podcast, Sasha Banks shared some behind-the-scenes details and clarified the pronunciation of her Mandalorian name, which often became mispronounced in translation.
“I say Koska [pronounced co-ska],” Banks explained.
Moreover, Banks continued on to emphasize the correct way to say it. As compared to the commonly used [kah-ska], “it’s not K-A, it’s K-O,” she stated. “It’s not ‘kah’, it’s ‘co.'”
“[Kah-ska] sounds like Costco or sounds like a store name,” Banks joked.
After clarifying her character’s name, Banks went on to reveal when she first found out about her character’s name and her exact role in The Mandalorian.
“I think it was the day of shooting, I remember finally having a wardrobe fitting in like early October. And I remember going to the studios and just seeing all the costumes that they created throughout all the years of just like even just Mandalorian from Wonder Woman, Spider, Spider-Man, everything. I was just shaking, like, ‘whoa, whoa, whoa, is this for real?’ And they showed me pictures of me in the suit of what they drew out, me with purple hair and me in the suit. I’m like, ‘Oh my God.’ I had no idea what they even intended me to do in The Mandalorian.”
“I just remember getting the phone call and Jon Favreau was like, ‘We want you in the series. I want to write a role for you, I would just love for you to be there. So finally, when I went to the fitting and I saw the pictures of what I was actually going to be, I was like, ‘wait, wait, wait I’m a Mandalorian?’ They’re like ‘yeah. You’re a Mandalorian.’ So I think it was like the first day on set is when I got my script and they’re like, ‘you’re going to be Koska Reeves, part of this group with Bo-Katan.’ I remember sitting there and meeting Katee [Sackhoff] and Simon [Kassianides] in a room and then sitting there with Bryce [Dallas Howard]. I was just like shaking, just like, ‘is this really happening? Is this real?'”
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Sasha Banks further explained the surreal feeling she experienced amidst touring the set.
“Then I remember we went to Pedro’s [Pascal] room so we can meet him as well, and just sit down and go through the lines a little bit. And I’m just like, ‘I have no idea how I even got here. This is crazy?’ Pretty much just like that, Bryce coming in and telling me the layout of the episode and the layout of where the story’s going and just giving me the background. I took a whole day of just going behind the studios and watching all the pre-buzz.”
“Bryce really just took me by the hand, led me in with such grace and so much authentic love because she was just so genuine of what she wanted to bring to the Star Wars realm, and especially me coming and not knowing so much about Star Wars,” Banks admitted. “All I did growing up was wrestling, wrestling, wrestling, wrestling. I grew up a little bit on Star Wars, I had a crush on Anakin Skywalker. I remember dressing up my brother in his face as Darth Maul as a kid. But to fully be in that universe, I was just so just taken aback of how huge it is. It’s one of the biggest franchises in the whole world. Coming back, coming from a wrestling universe that is, on its own state of being something so massive. It really doesn’t compare to Star Wars fandom and Star Wars universe.”
Sasha Banks has certainly made a name for herself in this “massive” wrestling universe. Subsequently, fans reacted with much excitement upon discovering Banks was set to star in the Star Wars series. Banks recalled the fans’ reaction to finding out she would be a part of The Mandalorian.
“I remember hopping on Twitter and just being like, ‘What are people going to say?’ Banks explained. “[At] first, I think I was trending as, ‘Is that Rosario Dawson?’ Then it was like, ‘Who is that? Is that a Jedi?’ It was like, ‘Wait, that’s Mercedes Varnado. That’s the girl from wrestling.’ It’s just like, ‘Whoa,’ I couldn’t wait to finally come out and say that I was part of this amazing, incredible series, ‘The Mandalorian,’ because they had to keep it such a neat secret for so long while I was filming. Plus, I didn’t want anybody to know what I was doing.”
“So when it finally hit that trailer and they showed it just a little bit of a snippet of me, the whole world went crazy, just speculating who was going to be in The Mandalorian. And then as you find out, I am a Mandalorian.”
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