The UK Garrison are famous for their steadfast rule of buckets on, meaning they never take it off in front of the public and according to J.J. Abrams Keri Russell – Zorii Bliss in The Rise of Skywalker – took a similarly Mandalorian approach to her character on set.
“J.J. called me and said ‘do you want to be in Star Wars?” Russell said. “He told me about the idea of the mask, and I love the mask. It’s a real power play because no one can see what you’re thinking but you can see everyone else. I’ve known J.J. for so long and I feel like we have a shorthand, and I feel like J.J. got to finish a piece of history.”
Abrams chimed in that he pretty much never actually saw Russell during the first two days of filming.
“Kerri loved the mask so much, that the first two days she worked on set, I never saw her face,” Abrams said. “She walked on set with her mask on, and wouldn’t take it off. I got to work with her for a few days and never saw her.”
