In addition to being the Smackdown Women’s Champion, Sasha Banks is now starring on the hit show, Star Wars: The Mandalorian on Disney+. Banks was recently interviewed by Variety and talked about how she was approached to be on the show by Executive Producer, Jon Favreau.
Surprisingly, it was not her work in WWE that got her discovered. It was actually her appearance on the Youtube series Hot Ones, where celebrities are interviewed while eating increasingly spicy chicken wings.
“So Jon Favreau came to me because he watched an interview that I did with ‘Hot Ones.’ And he really liked me and got my contact information,” she revealed. “Then on FaceTime he asked me to be part of ‘The Mandalorian.’ I was like, ‘Well, I cannot say no,’ but I was so incredibly nervous, because I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do it with the WWE schedule.”
Banks continued, “You know, we used to travel a lot. But they made it work and everything happened. And it was such an incredible episode. I still just can’t get over how awesome that was.”
Sasha Banks on Joining the Star Wars Universe
Without giving anything away for those not caught up, the latest episode of the Mandalorian (which features Banks’ debut) is getting good reviews. Banks also spoke about the response to her debut episode.
“Not only to be part of ‘Star Wars,’ but one of legit the greatest episodes in the history of television like that. I could watch that all the time. That was such a badass introduction to the world of ‘Star Wars.’”
Banks was then asked what it was like to step into the Star Wars universe for the first time.
“It was beyond. Just like the first time ever seeing a wrestling ring. It’s like the first time ever seeing anything just so magical. I would hate to ruin like how it looked backstage, but you felt like you were in a different galaxy in a different world. It was so almost easy to play a Mandalorian because I was legit in the universe. And you know, Jon Favreau and David Filoni and Bryce Howard, they were so amazing towards me,” Banks answered.
Visit Variety to read their full interview with Sasha Banks.