“ | His enthusiasm outweighs his discretion. | „ |
~ The Client on Doctor Pershing. |
Doctor Penn Pershing is a major antagonist in the 2019 Disney+ Star Wars streaming series The Mandalorian.
He is a scientist and clone engineer affiliated with a remnant of the Galactic Empire under Moff Gideon. Eventually, however, Pershing would betray Gideon and play his role in helping his enemies capture him by providing them with intel on his whereabouts.
Following Gideon's arrest, Pershing joined the New Republic's Amnesty Program, where he was designated as Amnesty Scientist L52, in an attempt to reform himself, though the Republic's refusal of his clone research which he thought would be beneficial to their cause later comes to haunt him thanks to Elia Kane's intervention.
He was portrayed by Omid Abtahi, who also played Howard in Fear the Walking Dead.
Biography[]
Penn Pershing was a doctor and clone engineer by trade. By 9ABY, Pershing was working with the Client for Moff Gideon on a project to obtain a high value target whose blood Gideon hoped could be used to build an army of Force sensitive troopers. This target turned out to be a former Jedi youngling named Grogu (who was called the Child as his real name was not widely known at the time). This Child was of the same species as Jedi Grand Master Yoda and Jedi Master Yaddle.
Pershing had found that with his high "M cell" count the Child would be ideal as a donor for Gideon's project. The Client commissioned a number of bounty hunters to retrieve the Child dead or alive. One of the bounty hunters the Client hired was the Mandalorian. The Mandalorian was able to retrieve the child and safely bring him back to the Client's compound and handed the Child over to the Client and Pershing, who took him away to his lab for study. The Client refused to elaborate when the Mandalorian asked what the Imperials wanted the child for. The Mandalorian began to have second doubts when he saw the look of fear on the Child's face.
Meanwhile Pershing began running tests on the Child and took some of his blood and tissue samples. For his part Pershing resisted requests from the Client to do more extensive work that would have killed the Child. While Pershing was working on the Child, the Mandalorian, having changed his mind about leaving the Child with the Imperials, burst into the lab. Finding the Child unconscious on the bed, the Mandalorian angrily demanded to know what Pershing had done. Begging for his life, Pershing told the angry bounty hunter that he had actually protected the Child and that if it hadn't been for him, the Child would already be dead. When he looked up, the Mandalorian and the Child were gone.
Pershing continued his work with the Child's blood and tissue at his labatory on Nevarro. He and a team of scientists working for Gideon attempted to infuse some test subjects with the blood and tissue samples from the Child, but Pershing found that the subjects bodies rejected the blood and tissue samples. He sent a message to Moff Gideon reporting on his progress and that he needed more blood before leaving the facility.
Three days later the Mandalorian, the Alderaanian Cara Dune, Greef Karga, and a Mythol the Mandalorian had captured earlier for Karga entered the base where Pershing's lab was located in order to destroy the base. Finding themselves in Pershing's lab, they found the test subjects and the message Pershing sent to Gideon about his progress. He informed Gideon that he was out of blood and tissue samples from the Child, and needed more to be able to continue his experiments.
After Gideon kidnapped the child from Tython, he signaled Pershing to let him know where to meet him so Pershing could continue his experiments on the Child. Pershing boarded an Imperial shuttle which was intercepted by the Mandalorian's new ally Boba Fett. The Mandalorian, Cara Dune, and Fennec Shand boarded the shuttle. One of the shuttle pilots tried to reason with them as he was little more than a punch clock villain, but his copilot was fanatical about the Empire and shot the pilot. Holding a gun to Pershing's head this copilot taunted Dune, saying he was on the Death Star when Grand Moff Tarkin had Alderaan destroyed. The copilot continued to taunt Dune before she had enough and shot him in between the eyes, taking off part of Pershing's ear in the process.
Out of guilt and a desire for favorable surrender terms from the New Republic, Pershing helped the Mandalorian and his allies in planning an assault on Gideon's cruiser. Pershing provided vital intelligence on the layout of Gideon's light cruiser, including where the Child was being held and that Gideon had a batallion of third generation Dark Trooper battle droids on his ship. Along with the intelligence, Pershing gave the Mandalorian his code cylinders so the team could access the ship's systems. This intelligence enabled them to successfully board Gideon's cruiser and rescue the Child.
After the rescue he was taken prisoner by the New Republic, along with Moff Gideon himself - who Dune knocked out before he could commit suicide.
Trivia[]
- Despite being introduced in the pilot episode, Pershing’s full name is not revealed until the third season.
External Links[]
- Doctor Pershing on the Star Wars Wiki