Rosario Dawson Surprised by Mark Hamill's Return as Luke Skywalker on 'The Mandalorian' Set

Mark Hamill's surprise appearance as Luke Skywalker in The Mandalorian stands as one of the most memorable moments in Star Wars history. Rosario Dawson shared with us at Star Wars Celebration that she was completely in the dark about his cameo until Hamill himself walked onto the set of The Book of Boba Fett.

It's no secret that Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau cleverly used Jedi Master Plo Koon as a decoy to keep Luke's cameo under wraps. During our conversation, they also recounted the amusing tale of how Dawson experienced one of the biggest surprises of her career due to an accidental oversight in communication.

Concept art of Plo Koon used to mislead potential leaks. Image Credit: Disney & Lucasfilm

To maintain the secrecy of this monumental reveal, scripts that included Luke Skywalker substituted him with Plo Koon, and Dawson was not immune to this strategy. She remembered reading about Plo Koon's supposed arrival in the script for The Book of Boba Fett, which left her as puzzled as any Star Wars fan would be, given that Plo Koon met his 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 remarked. "And then Mark Hamill was on set and surprised me and it was a whole thing. He even said, 'Plo Koon? That wouldn't even make sense!' and I'm like, 'I know it didn't make sense, but I still had to think it made sense because I got the script and everything!'"

Favreau and Filoni expressed their regret for not informing her earlier, admitting, "That was bad on us!"

"There were two secrets we knew we had to keep on the show," Favreau explained. "One was Grogu's reveal at the end of the first episode, and the other one was Luke Skywalker 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."

Dawson took it in stride, humorously noting, "I love it, they know I can't be trusted."