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When Star Wars fans sat down to watch The Mandalorian season two finale, they were in for a surprise. ‘The Rescue’ featured a surprise appearance from Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, which was made possible by stunt doubles, digital face-swapping, and other bits of filmmaking magic. Seeing Luke Skywalker in action again was a surprise to everyone, including the actors on the show.

It turns out that The Mandalorian cast were unaware that Luke was in the episode, even as they were filming his scenes. Katee Sackhoff, who plays Bo-Katan, had brought her father to set that day, and didn’t realize the significance of the scene they were shooting.

“My dad raised me on science fiction, so I watched wildly inappropriate movies way too young. Not that Star Wars was inappropriate, but Predator was when you’re six,” Sackhoff says during a panel at Dragon Con. “I got to take my dad to set actually, and he was there when we were storming the bridge, and Luke Skywalker was there. And Luke was not there that day.”

“Dave [Filoni], I don’t know if you know the story, but he lied to everyone and said it was Plo Koon, and I believed him because he’s Dave, and he wouldn’t lie to me. My dad was so excited, and they made him sign so many NDAs. They were like, ‘No, it’s fine.’ And I was like, ‘Make my dad sign an NDA. He has 8,000 friends on Facebook. Make him sign an NDA, please.’ But it was amazing, and my dad was proud.”

The Mandalorian and Grogu hits theaters on May 22, 2026.

Get to know, understand, and love the Star Wars franchise more with our Star Wars watch order, guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies & TV shows, and all the Star Wars movies and Star Wars TV shows ranked.