Emily Swallow “The Armorer” interview

Hannah:
G'day there, my name is Hannah. We are here with the wonderful Emily Swallow, talking all things The Mandalorian.
Emily, great to have you here. How have you been loving your time in Australia so far?

Emily Swallow:
It's been such a fantastic trip. I kind of don't want to go back. I've been here, I think, almost 10 days now. We started in Adelaide, and then we came to Melbourne.
My husband is here with me we've had so much good food, and we got to go… He had never met a koala. I did last time I was here. So I took him to meet some koalas, some kangaroos, some wallabies.
Which is just, you know it’s magical. It’s great. It’s part of the experience.
I can't imagine, does it ever get old?

Hannah:
Never, never.
You get them in your backyard and it’s still amazing every time.

Emily:
And the people are just incredible I mean, that's the best part of the trip. So it’s been really good.

Hannah:
Let’s talk about your experience being the Armorer.
First off, I want to know about your process getting into that zone. Do you have any rituals or routines that get you into character?

Emily:
I love when it’s time to play her, because she gets me into such a grounded, centered place and I need that energy in my life.
I feel like I always learn so much from the characters that I play. This is definitely one where, to serve her, I want to be…
Well yeah, tranquil but not zoned out. Just available to receive.
So on a shooting day, before I get into all the gear, I definitely spend some time connecting to my spiritual side.
For me that means prayer, meditation. And then I kind of just have to be ready because honestly, there’s so much sitting around and waiting while all the fantastic technical things are happening. So I focus in on what the key objectives are for her that day, story-wise, because it’s easy to get distracted.
And then I have to stretch a lot because the costume is sort of cumbersome.
When you’re in it for a while, you can’t really move. So any chance I get, I take off some of those armor pieces and just move around.
Otherwise my energy just sort of… drops. It makes me want to go to sleep!

Hannah:
Yeah, yeah for sure!
Well, on the other side of that tranquil calmness she embodies, the most recent Season 3, which was phenomenal, had you doing so much more combat!
You were active in this one thrashing around, taking people out.
How was that process for you combat training, prepping for this season?

Emily:
I owe so much to Lateef Crowder, who is Stunt Fight Mando, because he so generously gave of his own time to help me learn that fighting style.
And JJ, our Stunt and Fight Coordinator, also made time to bring me into those sequences.

The thing about television, I’ve learned, is that you don’t get a big training window.
Everything moves so fast. The producers often prefer to use stunt people, because there’s no time to wait.
So if I wanted to do something, I had to really know it and be able to do it quickly.

But I love learning it’s another way the Armorer communicates.
Learning her physical expression helped me understand her even more.
I’m still continuing to train in that style. I’m working a lot with Lauren Kim, who was my stunt double in Season 1.
It’s just such a gift to have this character as an excuse to keep learning.

Hannah:
For sure! And your relationship with the character it’s been three seasons now.
How have you grown to understand the Armorer more, from Season 1 to Season 3?
What’s your relationship with her like now?

Emily:
I really appreciated that in this most recent season, she’s open to a new way that might not work.
She took a tremendous risk by making Bo-Katan a leader not knowing if Bo would go along with it, not knowing if she’d be embraced.

I think that says so much about the character, and about Jon and Dave’s vision of a true leader:
They created this woman who was the embodiment of “the way,” leave your helmet on, follow the rules and she’s willing to say:
“You know what? Maybe I don’t know the best way. Maybe there’s a different way that’s better for our people. Let’s try it.”

It might not work but we’re going to give it a shot.
And I love that she’s developed that way. It made me respect her even more.
So yeah her journey in Season 3 was really, really satisfying to me.

Hannah:
Satisfying! Well, thank you for sharing that wisdom and knowledge and the love we all have for the Armorer.
Thank you so much, Emily. Enjoy the rest of your time!

Emily:
Thanks!