'The Mandalorian' Cast Learned About Luke Skywalker's Cameo At The Same Time As Fans

The appearance of a young Luke Skywalker in the season 2 finale of The Mandalorian was one of the biggest reveals from the Disney+ series. It turns out that it was also its best-kept secret. Not even the cast of the Star Wars series knew who was going to step out of those doors until they saw it on Disney+ like everyone else.

Katee Sackhoff, who plays the live-action version of the beloved Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels character Bo-Katan Kryze, was part of the ensemble of characters who appeared in the Mandalorian season 2 finale, "Chapter 16: The Rescue," which saw Din Djarin joined by Bo-Katan, Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), bounty hunter Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison), and Cara Dune (Gina Carano) to rescue Grogu from Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) after he was kidnapped by members of Gideon's droid Dark Trooper squadron. But unbeknownst to Sackhoff, there was another major character who would steal the show from the rest of the ensemble in the final few minutes: Luke Skywalker.

It was the surprise appearance that took the internet by storm, when a digitally de-aged Mark Hamill emerged from a door to take Grogu under his wing. However, it was actor Max Lloyd-Jones who served as a body double for the Jedi Knight, and that was who Sackhoff saw on set, she said in an interview with The Sith Council (via Inside the Magic):

"I didn't know [it was Luke] until I saw it with you guys...They didn't tell us. There was an actor there with dots on his face."

But Sackhoff could put two and two together, even if she believed the cast would've been informed of such a major cameo. As it turned out, even some of the crew didn't even know about Luke's cameo. Sackhoff added:

"I mean, kind of. But at the same time, I thought to myself, 'They would have let us know that.' You know, they said... Who did they say it was? I think Robin [Gadsby] knew who they said it was, but it was a complete red herring. So we didn't know. I knew it was a Jedi. I knew it was an X-Wing. So you start to put things together, but you don't know."

It's unclear whether Bo-Katan, or Luke, will appear in The Mandalorian season 3 or any of the show's recently-announced spin-offs including Ahsoka, Rangers of the New Republic, and The Book of Boba Fett.