PITTSBURGH — No matter how many "Star Wars" shows Ming-Na Wen stars in, her mother will never quite grasp what all the fuss is about.
"She was a very practical woman who has gone through so many struggles in her life and ran a restaurant and raised kids," Wen said over Zoom while wearing a Baby Yoda sweatshirt. "She's an incredible woman, but she doesn't understand 'Star Wars.'"
Wen, 58 and both a Mt. Lebanon High School and Carnegie Mellon University alumnus, is one of the co-leads of "The Book of Boba Fett," a new Disney+ series premiering Wednesday. She stars as mercenary Fennec Shand, a character she has now played across three separate Disney+ "Star Wars" series, alongside Temuera Morrison's titular bounty hunter.
Many may find that to be a pretty cool accomplishment, but when Wen showed her mother a trailer for "The Book of Boba Fett," her response was: "Huh, you like this. Why?"
It's pretty clear why Wen would be excited about continuing her long and prosperous journey with Disney, which has included voicing the princess in 1998's "Mulan," playing Agent Melinda May on ABC's Marvel series "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." and continuing to portray Fennec on shows created by fellow Mt. Lebanon High alumnus Dave Filoni.
For her and the rest of the "Book of Boba Fett" team, Filoni — who also created multiple animated "Star Wars" series and worked on the first two seasons of Disney+'s "The Mandalorian" — "is the encyclopedia of 'Star Wars,'" Wen said. He's also a massive Pittsburgh Penguins fan who convinced Wen to give her hometown squad a second chance after a game she attended as a kid left her with the impression that hockey was too violent.
"There's just something about having someone who grew up in the same town, in the same high school," she said. "You don't even have to talk about it or reminisce to just get that sense of connection that the both of us have gone through something together that was special."
Though she's currently "living out my fantasy life" in Hollywood, Wen still maintains some strong Pittsburgh ties. Her brother and his wife still run the Chinatown Inn restaurant downtown, which Wen is confident "is not going anywhere for a while" thanks to its high-quality culinary offerings and devoted clientele. Wen was also recently asked to be on the board of CMU's College of Fine Arts, though she wasn't able to because of her crazy schedule.
She was also more than aware that her alma mater had just a few weeks ago secured its first state football title ever. Wen was actually a trainer for Mt. Lebanon High's football team when she was there, an activity she chose to try when she was still deciding whether she wanted to be a doctor or an actor.
"Then I got to be an actor who played a doctor!" she said, referring to her long-running role as Jing-Mei "Deb" Chen on NBC's "ER."
Wen has played high-profile television roles throughout her career, including the tough-as-nails Agent May on "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Marvel recently started folding characters from its Netflix series into its larger cinematic universe, and Wen would love to see the "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." gang get the same treatment.
"I miss being Agent May," she said. "We have such an incredible, long history. I sort of feel like 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' paved the way. ... Agent May and Black Widow, they're best buddies! I would absolutely love having that happen."
Her priority now, of course, is continuing on with her role as Fennec Shand across the "Star Wars" TV universe. That character made her debut in Season 1 of "The Mandalorian, came back for Season 2, appeared in animated form during the first season of Filoni's "Star Wars: The Bad Batch" series and will be stepping into a more central role for the first time in "The Book of Boba Fett."
For a character that was originally only supposed to appear in that one episode of "The Mandalorian," Wen considers playing Fennec "an out-of-body experience half the time," and she can't wait for audiences to watch her and Boba Fett navigate the "Star Wars" universe's criminal underbelly.
"There's a lot they have in common, but they also complement each other because she's more street smart and has had to live on her own," Wen said. "He sort of needs Fennec's street smarts. It's an exploration of how they're able to handle this underworld of 'Star Wars' that has never been explored before."
Wen is looking forward to finding out how Fennec gained her tools of the trade, as well as showing audiences that while Fennec and Agent May may seem similar due to their stoic natures, Fennec's "morals can fluctuate very quickly depending on what serves her," as opposed to May's more loyal tendencies.
As Wen sees it, her life has been "altered tremendously" by her relationship with Disney. She used to love going to pop-culture conventions and now enjoys engaging with her fans on social media because "it makes me so happy to be able to brighten their day for a few minutes."
