The surprise appearance of Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in *The Mandalorian* is etched in Star Wars history as one of its most thrilling moments. During Star Wars Celebration, Rosario Dawson shared a delightful anecdote about her own astonishment on the set of *The Book of Boba Fett*. Unbeknownst to her, Hamill was set to cameo, and his sudden presence caught her completely off guard.
To maintain the secrecy of Luke's cameo, directors Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau ingeniously used Jedi Master Plo Koon as a decoy in the scripts. This clever tactic was meant to throw off potential leaks, and it worked—until Dawson found herself utterly baffled by the script. She recalled reading about Plo Koon's unexpected return, a character fans saw perish 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 mused, trying to make sense of the script. The surprise hit her when Mark Hamill walked onto the set, humorously debunking the Plo Koon ruse by saying, "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 her sooner, with Filoni saying, "That was bad on us! I think we assumed you'd gotten told the right information." Amidst laughter, Favreau added, "We were in it so much." He emphasized the importance of keeping two major secrets: Grogu's reveal at the end of the first episode and Luke Skywalker's 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 the surprise in stride, jokingly saying, "I love it, they know I can't be trusted."
Concept art of Plo Koon made to throw off leaks. Image Credit: Disney & Lucasfilm