Pedro Pascal Surprised Guests at Disneyland-Here's Why 'Star Wars' Fans Are Mad About It

Fan-favorite Star Warsactor Pedro Pascalsurprised guests at Disneyland over the weekend by disguising himself as Din Djarin/the Mandalorian, but soon after the reveal, his appearance became controversial.

Pascal was dressed as Din Djarin, including with his Mandalorian helmet concealing his face, as guests entered the Disney ride Smuggler's Run. As the guests stood before him, Pascal removed his helmet, delighting those present with the reveal that it was him along. (And, hilariously, he joked that they now all had to die because they'd seen his face-a reference to the Mandalorian rule against showing one's face to others within Din's Mandalorian sect.)

When the official Star Wars Instagram account posted photos and the video, though, fans were quick to note one thing: Many of the guests present during this exciting appearance were influencers, not random guests. The controversy quickly spread online, with numerous comments calling out the fact that Disney chose influencers to surprise rather than everyday guests who were in Disneyland.

Under the Star Wars post, one comment reads, "As much as I am happy for the influencers to experience something like this, its also a little disappointing to not have like normal park guests experience this as well. I have been a huge Star Wars fan my entire life and would do anything to get the chance to experience something like this. I just wish for fans that aren't influencers but have the absolute same love and passion maybe even more to experience this."

Some more scathing comments include, "I like how they're pretending those are just normal park guests," "So instead of real fans and park attendees you set up the influencers lol" and "So only influencers got to experience this for promotion ???? Wow Disney , I hope this ain't true ☠️☠️☠️."

So far, neither Pascal nor Disney has directly addressed the backlash.

The appearance was part of the ongoing marketing for Star Wars' new movie, The Mandalorian and Grogu, which hits theaters this Thursday.

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This story was originally published May 18, 2026 at 8:43 AM.