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

Mark Hamill's unexpected appearance as Luke Skywalker in The Mandalorian is etched in Star Wars lore as one of the franchise's most astonishing moments. Rosario Dawson shared with us at Star Wars Celebration that she was completely in the dark about his cameo until Hamill himself surprised her on the set of The Book of Boba Fett.

To safeguard this colossal secret, Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau cleverly used Jedi Master Plo Koon as a decoy in the scripts, a tactic that also caught Dawson off guard. She recounted reading about Plo Koon's supposed arrival in the script, which left her puzzled, especially given 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. Her confusion turned to astonishment when Hamill walked onto the set, jokingly questioning the Plo Koon plot twist, "Plo Koon? That wouldn't even make sense!" to which Dawson replied, "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 laughing, "We assumed you'd gotten told the right information. We were in it so much." Favreau elaborated on the intense secrecy surrounding the show, stating, "There were two secrets we knew we had to keep on the show. 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 the whole 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."

Concept art of Plo Koon made to throw off leaks. Image Credit: Disney & Lucasfilm