Boston’s Julia Jones headed to ‘Star Wars’ galaxy for ‘The Mandalorian’
The actress, best known for The Twilight Saga, has an undisclosed role in the Disney Plus series.
From Jamaica Plain to a galaxy far, far away. Julia Jones, best known for her roles in “The Twilight Saga” and HBO’s “Westworld,” has reportedly joined the cast of “The Mandalorian,” the ambitious live-action “Star Wars” series coming to streaming in November.
Disney and Lucasfilm are keeping the nature of Jones’ role under wraps for now. Entertainment Weekly recently released an image of her in the series, standing in the doorway of a wooden structure alongside characters played by “Haywire” actress Gina Carano and “Narcos” star Pedro Pascal. “The Mandalorian,” which follows a bounty hunter five years after the fall of the evil Empire in “Return of the Jedi,” also stars Giancartlo Esposito (“Breaking Bad”), Taika Watiti (“Thor: Ragnarok”), and Carl Weathers (“Rocky”); the series was created by Jon Favreau, who architected the Marvel Cinematic Universe with “Iron Man” and also directed Disney’s live-action remakes of “The Jungle Book” and “The Lion King.”
It’s unclear how much of the first season’s announced eight episodes Jones will feature into. But the project – to serve as a keystone for Disney Plus, the streaming subscription service launching Nov. 12 – will regardless be a big moment for the actress, whose star has been steadily rising since she played werewolf Leah Clearwater across the latter three “Twilight” films (now almost a decade ago).
After being raised in Jamaica Plain and graduating from Boston Latin School, Jones earned an English degree from Columbia; a successful model in catalogues for Gap Inc. and L’Oréal, she had small film roles before landing “Twilight,” which brought her global fame.
Since the end of that franchise, Jones – who is of Choctaw, Chickasaw, and African-American descent – has earned a reputation for playing strong female characters, primarily in Western-set films like Adam Sandler spoof “The Ridiculous Six,” mystery-drama “Wind River,” Liam Neeson thriller “Cold Pursuit,” and “Winter in the Blood” (produced by bestselling Native American author Sherman Alexie). She’s been even more prolific on the small screen lately, with a recurring role on season 2 of HBO’s sci-fi mind-teaser “Westworld” and a lead role in the upcoming third season of Amazon’s legal drama “Goliath.”
