This article was originally published on SFFGazette.com.
The Mandalorian and Grogu is a standalone Star Wars adventure, but there are still some noteworthy cameos. While the biggest is currently unconfirmed, it's generating a lot of excitement among fans on social media.
Before we get to that, The Mandalorian follow-up's main surprise appearances are from a handful of familiar X-wing pilots. You'll find them in both the New Republic base and during the final act attack on Nal Hutta.
Those pilots are Trapper Wolf (Dave Filoni), Sash Ketter (Deborah Chow), Jib Dodger (Rick Famuyiwa), Lieutenant Garrett Sal (Lee Isaac Chung), and Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee). The latter is an actor, of course, but the rest have all helmed episodes of The Mandalorian TV series.
Filoni, who is now Lucasfilm co-President, also shows up in the salt bar on Shakari, where The Mandalorian makes short work of Lord Jannu's men.
Other cameos include C-3PO actor Anthony Daniels as the voice of an Air Traffic Control Droid, and filmmaker Martin Scorsese as Hugo, an Ardennian street-food vendor who reluctantly provides Din Djarin with some information on Rotta the Hutt's whereabouts.
Onto that big cameo, and during The Mandalorian and Grogu's opening credits, we see some very cool shots of Adelphi Base as the names of the movie's main cast and crew are shown on screen.
Pay close attention, and you'll see an R2 unit being lowered into an X-wing. That's not an unusual sight in Star Wars, of course, but the prevailing theory is that it's R2-D2, the droid that belongs to Luke Skywalker. It makes perfect sense for him to be at the base, and as Easter Eggs go, this is a brilliant one (assuming the droid is indeed who we think it is).
That's really it for cameos in The Mandalorian and Grogu. Rotta is shown as a baby—resembling the design from The Clone Wars—in a hologram, but there are no other characters from The Mandalorian or the wider Star Wars franchise.
"The Mandalorian and Grogu is a fun, pulpy reminder that Star Wars doesn’t need to grow up; it just needs to be entertaining," we said in our review. "Jon Favreau's action-packed love letter delivers exactly the crowd-pleasing adventure fans have been craving."
In The Mandalorian and Grogu, the evil Empire has fallen, and Imperial warlords remain scattered throughout the galaxy. As the fledgling New Republic works to protect everything the Rebellion fought for, they have enlisted the help of legendary Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his young apprentice Grogu.
Directed by Jon Favreau, the movie also stars Sigourney Weaver and Jeremy Allen White. It's produced by Jon Favreau, Kathleen Kennedy, Dave Filoni, and Ian Bryce, with music composed by Ludwig Göransson.
The Mandalorian and Grogu arrives in theaters on May 22.