There’s no detail too small for Star Wars characters, and that includes their hairdos.
As she promotes the return of her Mandalorian character Fennec Shand during the new Star Wars: The Bad Batch animated series, Ming-Na Wen shared how Fennec’s hairstyle emulates her character.
Fennec’s arrival
Fennec Shand debuted in The Mandalorian’s first season episode, “The Gunslinger.” She has a reputation as a fearsome hunter and killer known for taking down some high-profile criminals, even a few of the Hutts.
Newbie bounty hunter Toro Galician, who thinks capturing Fennec will boost his reputation, recruits Din. She’s captured, offering an alliance with Toro, but he shoots her and leaves Fennec for dead.
In season 2, Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) saved her, and Fennec returned with some cybernetic parts.
She aided the Mandalorian in his quest to rescue Grogu, which leads to a fantastic team-up with Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff), Cara Dune (Gina Carano) and Koska Reeves (Mercedes Varnado aka WWE star Sasha Banks).
On Instagram, Wen shared photos of her character on set and detailed how her unique spirit inspired Fennec’s hairstyle.
For Fennec Friday, I’m spotlighting her signature hair-do. @hairdepartmentetc helped me to come up with a very beautiful and badass look for Fennec.
We were inspired by Fennec’s name, which brings to mind the fennec fox. This fox is orange, with very big ears, is often a loner, cunning and very stealth. Just like Fennec Shand.
With that inspiration and some discussions, Maria came up with braids on the top of my head to mimic the fox’s ears. The long ponytail with its intricate braiding is the fox’s tail. The top front of my hair is braided, then these strands are woven into a halo wig to achieve this look.
Oh, and the orange cording is the Fennec’s trademark color. Pretty cool, right? This sleek look is not easy to do and takes a lot of work and skill, but Maria has the magic fingers and the mad talents! Bravo!! Now, let’s go kick some a—!
Fennec’s origins
Not much has been revealed about Fennec, but that’s set to change with her appearance on the Bad Batch.
This will be a much younger Fennec, just starting on her bounty-hunting career and not as skilled as the fighter fans saw on The Mandalorian.
Head writer Jennifer Corbett explained to the Radio Times that this will show more of the origins of Fennec and what shaped her.
This is a younger Fennec, she’s new to the bounty hunting scene, and it’s an interesting introduction for her. She definitely comes in with a bang and proves to be a formidable force.
It’s been amazing to see her progression. The action that comes with that particular episode… it’s really incredible.”
“Ming-Na Wen brought so much to that performance — she was a delight to work with and is so interested in this character. I think fans are gonna like it, we’re definitely going somewhere with it, and I’m glad [producer] Dave Filoni had that idea and let us run with it.
It’s important that we’re not creating something that wasn’t his vision for this character. So, anything that we did, we made sure we got his eyes on it and got his feedback.
Wen herself talked to StarWars.com about how it felt returning to the role.
“Do you know how long I’ve had to keep silent about Fennec coming back?” she asks with a joyful laugh. “This is the first time I’ve been able to talk about it! It’s a younger Fennec, and she is voiced by me, and I’m thrilled and beyond happy that Dave wanted to create more of a backstory for her.”
It’s clear the Agents of Shield star enjoys playing another formidable warrior on-screen, and Star Wars fans eager to see how Fennec became the exceptional hunter they know today.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch streaming new episodes Friday on Disney+.