How Jon Favreau Cast WWE’s Sasha Banks In ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 2

Turns out eating hot wings can be great for your career: WWE star Sasha Banks has revealed how she was tapped to star in The Mandalorian Season 2 after being spotted by show creator Jon Favreau in an appearance on YouTube series Hot Ones.

Banks appeared on the unique talk show—which features stars answering questions while chomping on progressively spicier hot wings—in January 2018. The episode has been watched nearly 5 million times on YouTube, including by Favreau.

Banks recounted how she was approached for the role of Koska Reeves in The Mandalorian Season 2 on WWE’s The Bump talk show: “I was told that Jon Favreau really liked me and wanted to talk to me. I was like, ‘Wait, what?’ He FaceTimed me and said, ‘I saw your interview on Hot Ones and I really, really like you and would like to write a role for you in the show,’” said Banks.

“I was like, ‘OK, I just have to see if I’d be able to.’ He said, ‘We’ll do whatever we have to do to get you on the show.’ I could not believe it. And here I am.”

In another interview with Variety, Banks expanded: “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.”

“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,” said Banks. “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. 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 bad ass introduction to the world of Star Wars. I’m so thankful I saved Baby Yoda! I cannot get over it. Oh my god.”

Banks first appeared in the third episode of The Mandalorian Season 2 on Disney+.

She’s also one of the stars of WWE’s Friday Night SmackDown on Fox, on which she is the current reigning SmackDown Women’s Champion.