Season 1 of The Mandalorian included many A-list actors becoming a part of the story in cameo appearances that were nifty little Easter eggs that were hiding in plain sight. Remember Taika Waititi's appearance as IG-11? Well, the Disney+ series continues its tradition in its second season, as even its premiere episode was loaded with Easter eggs and references to Star Wars, with episode 2 doing the same. And amidst the multiple blasts from the past, there is a familiar face that many may have missed, but whose connection to the franchise goes way back. And it continues a new Star Wars tradition of X-Wing pilot cameos.

The Mandalorian Season 2 "The Passenger" sees Mando travelling to another planet with Baby Yoda and an alien companion with a precious cargo of her own that need the bounty hunter to travel at sublight speed. But enroute, the Razor Crest is flanked by two X-wing ships, under the New Republic, who enquire about his trip and as the two fighter pilots get updated about Mando's latest heroics as well as past "missions," they attempt to apprehend him. What happens next is for you to find out yourself but not before you take a glance back at the two fighter pilots as one of them has appeared in The Mandalorian before. 

In Season 1, "The Prisoner," Din Djarin aides in on a daring prison escape, following which his temporary companions try to double-cross only for Mando to one-up them and sets the New Republic's X-wing starfighters on their tails. The three pilots who track the homing beacon, left behind by Mando, are Trapper Wolf, Jib Dodger, and Sash Ketter who destroy the gunship before strafing the space station. The other two fighter pilots on either side of Trapper Wolf were played by Deborah Chow and Rick Famuyiwa-- both of them had directed some of The Mandalorian Season 1's episodes. 

 

It's Trapper Wolf who stops Mando's ship, Razor Crest, from moving forward in the Season 2 episode but this time, he is accompanied by a different, yet another familiar face-- Paul Sun-Hyung Lee who plays the starfighter, Captain Carson Teva. The actor is known for his beloved character of Appa in the CBC Television show Kim's Convenience. Wolf and Carson appear once more, towards the end of the episode, doing something that goes completely against their jobs as starfighters and surprising Mando in the process.

And as for who plays Trapper Wolf, in case you haven't already recognized the very renowned face, it's The Mandalorian writer, producer and sometimes director Dave Filoni who is reprising his role as the New Republic's X-wing pilot from Season 1. But this is not the first time that Filoni has become a part of his films and series, especially his work under the Star Wars franchise, in ways other than being their executive producer, director, writer etc. He has voiced countless characters like Embo in Star Wars: Clone Wars, he has been everything from a Stormtrooper to a technician to an Imperial Officer on Star Wars Rebels, and as Bo Keevil in Star Wars Resistance

The Mandalorian marks Dave Filoni's first live-action appearance in the Star Wars franchise, that is if you don't count his inclusion as an extra in The Force Awakens as a Jakku villager.