The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau offered the part to Burr, believing his past criticism of the franchise would make his casting that much more amusing.

Burr received a significant amount of mock outrage from fans for a scene in "Chapter 6: The Prisoner", in which he dropped Grogu, the show's hugely popular breakout character.

"[9][11] During the trip to the prison transport, Mayfeld repeatedly mocks the Mandalorian as well, urging him to remove his helmet,[10][12][13] and suggesting he may be hiding his face because he is secretly a Gungan.

[17][18][19] Upon arrival at the prison transport, Mayfeld, Xi'an, Burg, and the Mandalorian enter the ship while Q9-0 disables onboard surveillance and transmits directions to them from the Razor Crest cockpit.

[20] After gunfights with several security droids, Mayfeld's party reached the transport's control room[20][21] where they encounter a New Republican guard named Davan.

After Grogu's capture by Moff Gideon's Imperial remnant, the Mandalorian decides to break out Mayfeld, who was arrested by the New Republic and sentenced to 50 years of service at the Karthon Chop Fields.

In "Chapter 15: The Believer", Mayfeld (also called inmate 34667) is temporarily released from prison by Cara to assist the Mandalorian and his group by accessing the Empire's network in Morak, a secret Imperial mining hub, to learn the location of Gideon's ship.

Stone wrote that Mayfeld appears "visibly frustrated by his time fighting for the losing side of the Galactic Civil War before taking his talents to less-than-legal clients".

[37] In a 2015 interview with Conan O'Brien, Burr described the original Star Wars film as a "cheesy self-help book put in outer space with, like, Muppets".

[31][38] Burr's casting on The Mandalorian was first revealed at the Star Wars Celebration fan convention in Chicago on April 14, 2019, when he was briefly seen in a teaser trailer during a panel discussion about the series.

[58] Burr is one of several comedians with brief acting roles in the first season of The Mandalorian, including Brian Posehn, Horatio Sanz, Amy Sedaris,[9][17][31] Richard Ayoade, Adam Pally, and Jason Sudeikis.

[59] Using a combination of physical set pieces and images projected onto the screens, the Volume allows the actors to be filmed and placed into a digital environment.

[64] Burr believed The Mandalorian more closely resembled a Spaghetti Western than a traditional work of science fiction,[44][65][66] saying: "This isn't your dad's Star Wars".

[38][62] Immediately after "Chapter 6: The Prisoner" was made available on Disney+, multiple fans were discussing and praising Mayfeld and Burr's performance on social media outlets, particularly on Twitter.

Sam Stone of Comic Book Resources called Mayfeld a "fan-favorite" and a "memorable character", praising Burr's "irascible performance".

[8] Screen Rant writer Kevin Pantoja called Mayfeld "arguably the highlight" of his episode, a fun character who infused some comedy into the series.

[67] Dan Brooks, a writer with The Mandalorian production company Lucasfilm, felt Burr delivered a "great performance" as Mayfeld, saying he infused the character with a "unpredictable schoolyard-bully air".

[1] Screen Rant writer Ben Sherlock called Mayfeld an interesting antihero and a "character to remember", saying he was portrayed "brilliantly" by Burr.

"[26] Sarah Moran of Screen Rant said the fact that Burr is not a Star Wars fan in real-life "only makes his role on The Mandalorian all the funnier".

[2] Entertainment Weekly writer Anthony Breznican, referring to Burr's roots in the Boston area, said the actor brought "not just the distinctive voice of his hometown to the screen, but also the general Masshole attitude" to the part of Mayfeld.

[6] Tom Foster of TV Overmind called Burr a "skilled actor", but felt Mayfeld was an underdeveloped character and that the dialogue in the screenplay was too quick and vague.

[69] IndieWire writer Tyler Hersko said Burr is funny and talented, but that "the episode’s writing unfortunately gives him little to work with, and that Mayfeld does little more than insult the Mandalorian for his entire running time.

[16][71] Comic Book Resources writer Renaldo Matadeen called them the "dumbest" criminals in the Star Wars universe, with "a low IQ and no sense of tactics or strategy, leaving us wondering how they got this far in the first place".

[52] Burr received a significant amount of mock outrage from fans of The Mandalorian for a scene in which Mayfeld dropped the Child, the show's hugely popular breakout character colloquially known as "Baby Yoda".