Mark Hamill's surprise appearance as Luke Skywalker in The Mandalorian stands out as one of the most shocking moments in Star Wars history. Rosario Dawson, who joined the franchise, shared with us at Star Wars Celebration her astonishment upon learning about Hamill's cameo on the set of The Book of Boba Fett. She had no prior knowledge of his involvement until he walked onto the set, making it a memorable moment in her career.
Concept art of Plo Koon used as a decoy. Image Credit: Disney & Lucasfilm
To keep Luke Skywalker's cameo under wraps, showrunners Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau cleverly used Jedi Master Plo Koon as a decoy in the scripts. This tactic was also applied to Dawson's script for The Book of Boba Fett, which led to her confusion about Plo Koon's supposed return, despite his known demise in Revenge of the Sith.
"I was like... I don't know... but people disappear and then they come back, so maybe it's possible?" Dawson recalled. Her confusion was quickly cleared when Mark Hamill surprised her on set, humorously questioning the logic of Plo Koon's involvement. "Plo Koon? That wouldn't even make sense!" Hamill exclaimed, to which Dawson responded, "I know it didn't make sense, but I still had to think it made sense because I got the script and everything!"
Filoni and Favreau expressed their regret for not informing Dawson earlier, with Filoni saying, "That was bad on us!" and Filoni adding with a laugh, "We assumed you'd gotten told the right information. We were in it so much."
Favreau highlighted the challenge of keeping two major secrets during the show's production: Grogu's reveal at the end of the first episode and Luke Skywalker's appearance at the end of season two. "We were biting our nails all the way through, and we somehow miraculously made it cleanly to both of those because everything else leaked. But, unfortunately, we didn't fill in our partner here," he admitted.
Dawson took it in stride, jokingly saying, "I love it, they know I can't be trusted."
