Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu is chock-full of high-profile talent. Pedro Pascal returns as the titular Mando, Sigourney Weaver makes her Star Wars debut as a Rebel colonel, The Bear's Jeremy Allen White voices a ripped Hutt, and Oscar winner Martin Scorsese even appears as an Ardennian fry cook.
However, Star Wars fans will also catch another familiar face, one that's usually behind the camera: Lucasfilm President and Chief Creative Officer Dave Filoni. Filoni co-wrote The Mandalorian and Grogu with director Jon Favreau and Noah Kloor. Over the past two decades, he's also been instrumental in shaping the world of Star Wars on TV, working on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and more. Now he appears in the franchise's first theatrical film since 2019's The Rise of Skywalker.
Who does Dave Filoni play in Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu?
The Mandalorian and Grogu isn't Dave Filoni's first time popping up in a Star Wars project. He's voiced characters in the past, like The Clone Wars' Embo (who appears in The Mandalorian and Grogu, albeit nonverbally) and Rebels' Chopper. His first live-action appearance in Star Wars came in The Mandalorian Season 1, where he played X-Wing pilot Trapper Wolf. He donned the X-Wing pilot helmet for two more episodes: one in Season 2 and the other in Season 3.
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Filoni reprises the role of Trapper Wolf The Mandalorian and Grogu. However, the first of two times he appears in the film, he's not in Trapper Wolf's usual X-Wing cockpit. Instead, he's at a bar on a Rebel base, rocking his trademark cowboy hat. (Between this and the helmet, I guess Trapper Wolf is a big hat guy.)
The next time Filoni shows up is in the final battle on the Hutts' home planet, Nal Hutta. Led by Colonel Ward, Trapper Wolf and several other X-Wing pilots dive-bomb the Hutts after learning they were still allied with the last vestiges of the Empire.
Filoni actually isn't the only cameo in this battle. Keep your eyes peeled for Captain Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) from The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and The Book of Boba Fett, as well as The Mandalorian episode directors Lee Isaac Chung and Rick Famuyiwa. Both have made prior cameos as X-Wing pilots in the flagship show.