The Client

Born between 70 BBY and 61 BBY, the human male known as "the Client" became an Imperial officer in the Galactic Empire, earning for himself an Imperial medallion indicative of high honor. The Empire fell at the Battle of Jakku in 5 ABY, but the Client continued to serve with remnants of the government and wore his medal in doing so, eventually coming to work with an Imperial remnant led by the warlord Moff Gideon. While under Gideon's command, the Client operated from a safe house in Nevarro City on the Outer Rim planet Nevarro, keeping a low profile there. Doctor Penn Pershing, a scientist who had also served as an officer within the Empire, worked under the Client and Gideon and had a laboratory in the safe house.

In 9 ABY, the Client was under orders from Gideon to acquire and extract blood from Grogu, a Force-sensitive male infant of the same species as former Jedi Grand Master Yoda. At the time, the infant was known only as "the Child," though the Imperial referred to him as "the asset." The Imperials possessed the coordinates of the Child's last known location and tracking fobs that could follow "the asset"'s position when close enough.

Needing his task to be done quickly and quietly, the Client set up a high paying but off-the record job in order to use bounty hunters to retrieve Grogu and informed Greef Karga, the Bounty Hunters' Guild's agent on Nevarro, of the job. Rather than providing the traditional puck and chain code, the Client wished to meet the hunters who accepted the job face to face, unwilling to give them any more information than Grogu's age and tracking signature, and provided chits for them to visit his safe house. Many bounty hunters from the Guild took up the job, with Karga informing the Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin of the offer after he turned in his previous bounties. After the Mandalorian chose to take the job, the guild agent notified the Client that Djarin was coming to meet him, describing the hunter as the best in the parsec but also expensive.

The Client waited at his desk in the safe house, guarded by four armed stormtroopers. A GNK-series power droid led Djarin to the room, where the Client greeted him. Pershing then hastily entered the room, startling the Mandalorian into immediately drawing his weapons and prompting the stormtroopers to do the same on the bounty hunter. Pershing apologized, and the Client stood to introduce the scientist before asking that Djarin lower his guns. When the bounty hunter demanded that the stormtroopers lower theirs first, stubbornly bragging about his odds to defeat the four, the Client obliged and signaled to the troopers.

With the standoff settled, Djarin sat at the Client's request and the Imperial presented a down payment of an ingot of beskar, a metal used for Mandalorian armor which had been heavily plundered by the Empire during its purge of the Mandalorian homeworld of Mandalore. The Client explained that more of the material would be handed over on delivery of "the asset" which they sought. After Pershing clarified that "the asset" that they wanted needed to be delivered alive, the Client revealed that he would also accept proof of termination for a lesser payment, a statement that did not please the scientist.

When Djarin asked for the puck, the Client revealed that, for discretionary reasons, they could only provide a tracking fob, the last four digits of "the asset"'s chain code—his age of fifty years—and the Child's last known location. The Imperial assured the Mandalorian that an individual of his skill would easily accomplish the task. Djarin took the down payment and the fob and exited the room to complete the job. As the bounty hunter did so, the Client remarked that the beskar belonged back in the Mandalorians' hands, adding that it was good to restore the natural order of things.

With the data and the fob, Djarin was able to find and acquire Grogu on the planet Arvala-7. He informed Karga as he made his way back to Nevarro and was advised to take "the asset" straight to the Client. When the Mandalorian arrived, the Imperial was waiting at his desk with a fob with Pershing standing at his side. Excited, the Client rose from his seat and approached the Child's hovering pram, using the fob to confirm that he was indeed "the asset." Pershing then scanned Grogu and confirmed that he was in good health and fit for experiments.

The Client then remarked that Djarin's reputation was justified. The bounty hunter asked him how many other hunters had fobs, to which the Imperial responded that he had to ensure the acquisition of "the asset." The Client then produced the promised payment, a camtono containing twenty ingots of beskar and handed it over to Djarin. Before he left, the Mandalorian asked what the Imperials planned to do to the infant, but the Client glared at him and refused to say, stating that per Guild tradition the transaction was complete and so should be forgotten.

After Djarin left, the Client and Pershing discussed extracting Grogu's blood. The Imperial wished for the blood to be extracted swiftly by any means possible, but the doctor kept him from harming "the asset," arguing in a confrontation later on that day that Gideon had specifically ordered Grogu to be brought back alive. In that argument, the Client told Pershing to simply extract what they needed from the Child as quickly as possible, as he could no longer promise that the doctor would be kept safe.

Unbeknownst to the pair, Djarin was spying on their conversation. The Mandalorian had become fond of Grogu and was there to rescue the Child. After the Client left him, Pershing was able to retrieve some of "the asset"'s blood. At that point, Djarin broke into the safe house and liberated Grogu from Pershing, sparing the doctor. The fobs for the Child were then reactivated to entice the members of the Bounty Hunters' Guild to intercept the rogue hunter and take "the asset" back, but Djarin's Mandalorian tribe intervened and helped their fellow Mandalorian escape with the infant.

After Djarin escaped with Grogu, the Client took control of Nevarro City, with Imperial remnant reinforcements coming from an Imperial facility on the far side of the planet where Pershing was experimenting with Grogu's blood. The Imperial forces attacked the Mandalorian tribe at its covert in the city's sewers and killed many of them. The Client also used the Guild, sending its hunters out to find Djarin while he sought to lie low where the Client could not find him.

With all the Guild hunters who intercepted Djarin having been killed, Karga coaxed Djarin to return to Nevarro, pretending to want help in overthrowing the Client and freeing Nevarro City from its occupation. The agent in reality intended to kill the Mandalorian and take Grogu to the Imperial. Both convened on the planet with their respective posses, but after being saved by the Child, Karga betrayed his own hunters and chose to help Djarin and his allies, the ex-rebel Cara Dune and the Ugnaught Kuiil, to take out the Client.

Karga and Dune escorted a cuffed Djarin to Nevarro City, intending to get close to the Client before releasing the Mandalorian and killing the Imperial. They also brought Grogu's empty pram as they made their way to the Nevarro Common House, which the Client used as his office. The Client himself was seated in the cantina, guarded by a squad of stormtroopers. Rising from his seat, the Imperial inspected Djarin's new Mandalorian armor, forged from the beskar that he had given to the Mandalorian. Offering to Karga a drink, he invited the agent and Djarin to sit with him at a table.

The Client questioned Djarin on why Mandalore resisted Imperial rule, claiming that the Empire brought justice to every system over which it had influence. He then rhetorically asked the Mandalorian if peace had truly been restored after the Empire's fall and stated his opinion that the event had only resulted in death and chaos. The Client requested to be allowed to see Grogu with his own eyes but was informed by Karga that he was asleep. The Imperial insisted that they would be quiet and ordered the agent to open the hovering pram before the former was interrupted by a call from Moff Gideon.

The Client answered Gideon's call, with the moff asking him if Grogu was secured. The Imperial confirmed that he was in their hands and was sleeping, but Gideon told him to inspect the pram again. As the Client looked on in suspicion, a squad of Gideon's death troopers, positioned outside the common house, immediately opened fire on the cantina, killing the Imperial, his stormtroopers, and the protocol droid bartender as collateral damage. Afterward, Gideon and his battalion of troops surrounded the establishment and gave to Djarin and his allies an ultimatum to surrender Grogu. The moff's attempt was unsuccessful, as the Mandalorian and his cohort were ultimately able to escape the Imperial forces, killing many troopers in the process.

A human male standing at 1.83 meters (6 foot), the Client had light skin, white hair, and light blue eyes. Stoic- and stern-faced, he had a very refined, calm, and polite way of speaking. The Imperial remained calm while Din Djarin and stormtroopers drew arms in his presence and was willing to command his men to lower their weapons first. His appearance intimidated Greef Karga, who spoke cautiously when referring to him. While highly intelligent and skilled with diplomacy, the Client was not very strong nor fast, although he had a degree of skill in combat. He was not Force-sensitive.

A vile and sinister person, the Client was very loyal to the Empire and looked back fondly at the time when the government was in power, continuing to wear the Imperial medallion after its fall. He believed that, to every system affected by it, the late faction provided peace and prosperity and saw it as the only one worth following, claiming that only death and chaos had ensued in its absence. The Client disliked those who resisted Imperial rule and hindered what he called the "natural order of things." His expression was grave when talking about the times that had come after the Empire's end.

The Client was knowledgeable in Mandalorian culture, being disheartened at the fact that their world Mandalore had resisted Imperial rule. He saw Djarin's beskar payment as a beginning to compensate for the Empire's destruction of Mandalore. As Djarin left, the Client stated that he was pleased to see the beskar returned to its rightful owners. Inspecting Djarin's newer Mandalorian armor, he complimented the craftsmanship of the traditional Mandalorian artisans. The Imperial was sure to acknowledge the Mandalorian's own reputation, considering it proven when the bounty hunter brought Grogu to him.

The Client was obsessed with acquiring Grogu, being set on obtaining him by any means necessary regardless of the latter's survival. Despite having previously agreed with Pershing that they would require "the asset" to be delivered alive, he offered to Djarin the alternative of termination and claimed to be pragmatic when the scientist complained. When the Mandalorian brought Grogu to the Imperial, the Imperial rose from his seat in excitement and smiled as he inspected "the asset."

The Client was both serious and secretive about his intentions with the Child, glaring at Djarin when the bounty hunter asked what would happen to the infant and in response only making an insult about how endangered the Mandalorian's kind had become. He wished for the task of acquiring Grogu's blood to be completed as soon as possible, continuing to set aside the need to keep the infant alive in the process. After Karga pretended to return "the asset" to him, he requested to be able to see the Child, insisting on opening the hovering pram despite claims that the infant was asleep.

The Client wore a black and brown fur-edged coat over a brown shirt with dark gray trousers and black boots. His Imperial medallion was hung around his neck. He also possessed a camtono of beskar that had been taken during the Great Purge of Mandalore.

"The Client" first appeared in "Chapter 1: The Mandalorian," the debut episode of the Disney+ television show The Mandalorians first season, which was directed by Dave Filoni and aired on November 12, 2019. The character also appeared in "Chapter 3: The Sin" and "Chapter 7: The Reckoning," later episodes of the season that were directed by Deborah Chow and released on November 22 and December 18 of that year. The Client was portrayed by the award-winning film director Werner Herzog, with John Dixon serving as a stunt double for him in "Chapter 7: The Reckoning."

While Herzog was included in The Mandalorians initial casting announcement on December 12, 2018, the character of the Client was first mentioned in the show's panel at Celebration Chicago on April 14, 2019. The character then appeared in the show's official trailer, published on YouTube on August 24 of that year. His credited title of "the Client" was first mentioned on the Walt Disney Company's Direct-to-Consumer & International website on December 27. According to Lucasfilm Story Group member Pablo Hidalgo, the writers for The Mandalorian explicitly did not want "the Client" to be given a name.

Herzog was invited to play The Mandalorian by its showrunner and creator, Jon Favreau, who was reportedly very set on having him for the role. The highly acclaimed director's only knowledge of the Star Wars saga by that point had been from trailers and excerpts as, by his own account, he did not watch many films. He likewise had no knowledge of Favreau's past work but believed that the showrunner admired his acting, and requested to look at the screenplay. The filmmaker liked what he saw of the screenplay given to him and felt that the dark, untrustworthy figure pitched to him would be easy to play. Herzog also saw the acting job as an opportunity to earn money back after financing his 2019 film Family Romance, LLC with his own means.

Artist Brian Matyas created concept art of the Client after Herzog was cast to play the character. The artist based the character's design on depictions of Italian mafia bosses. Filming for "Chapter 1: The Mandalorian" and "Chapter 3: The Sin" took place between October 1 and October 26 in 2018, while "Chapter 7: The Reckoning" was filmed shortly thereafter, from October 29 to November 12. Due to reasons of secrecy, during production of The Mandalorian Herzog was led to believe that the series had a completely different title.

With the Star Wars universe being new to him, Herzog was briefed on his character and the setting, coming to question whether the stormtroopers were the Client's allies or enemies. He was deeply fascinated by the technology of The Mandalorians set, The Volume, calling it a step out of the "obsolete" use of green screens as one could better view the environment in which their character performed during the filming process.

For one scene of "Chapter 1: The Mandalorian" involving Greef Karga and Din Djarin in the Nevarro Common House, Karga's actor Carl Weathers attempted to convey the Client's power over Karga by trying to sound more cautious when discussing Herzog's character than he was when generally talking to the Mandalorian. Weathers highly respected Herzog and his work, referring to the acclaimed filmmaker as "maestro" throughout the entire time during which the pair worked together on set. In a later interview, the actor reflected that working with Herzog was the highlight of his career.

At one point, Herzog watched the filming of a scene with Chris Bartlett, the body double for a number of characters in The Mandalorian, including the protocol droid bartender that fell with the Client, on one of the latter's first days on set. Bartlett recalled being unable to completely contain his excitement about being on a Star Wars set, asking Herzog, whom he believed to be a great actor, if he also found it exciting. According to Bartlett, Herzog responded that they were doing serious work by creating characters that otherwise would not exist and breathing life into them, which Bartlett reflected to Star Wars Insider was totally true. In that interview with Insider contributor Pat Jankiewicz, he recalled Herzog's words as an amazing thirty-second long acting masterclass.

Filoni later remarked that the Client was one of the first human faces that he ever filmed in live-action; the director's experience up to that point had been confined to animation projects such as Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Herzog considered his part in The Mandalorians first season as providing the "basic ingredients" of the story. After understanding more about the Star Wars universe, he considered it to be similar in nature to an expanding mythology and a new way of seeing peoples' roles in the universe.

Upon first seeing Grogu, known to many as "Baby Yoda," Herzog was astounded by how realistically the puppet and the animatronic for the character worked and saw it as a great mechanical achievement, calling it "heartbreakingly beautiful." According to Chow, when she was shooting the Client and Grogu's scene in "Chapter 3: The Sin," Herzog was so entranced with the Child's puppet that he seemingly forgot that the baby was a puppet at all, starting to direct it as if it were a person.

At the end of that shot, Chow and Jason Porter, a visual effects supervisor for Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), performed a "plate shot," where the puppet was removed and ILM could implement a CGI version of Grogu in case the practical shot was not satisfactory. Herzog disliked the decision, considering the Child's practical look to be a great step forward for filming. He reportedly told the creators to commit to the magic of the puppet and called them all cowards. Favreau and Filoni, who were among the recipients of Herzog's complaint, came to agree and used Grogu's puppet for the shots as much as possible, making sure that the CGI—the rendered Baby Yoda—did not exceed the puppet's abilities.

Joe Schreiber's 2021 junior novelization of The Mandalorians first season presents a number of the Client's lines differently to how they were said or presented in the show. The 2020 storybook The Mandalorian: A Clan of Two, written by Brooke Vitale, states that the Client's soldiers attacked Din Djarin's group, injuring Greef Karga, whereas in Chapter 7, the attackers were a flock of Nevarro reptavians. This article follows the show's version of events.