The headgear in Star Wars can be quite eclectic. Ornate hats, complex helmets, mysterious hoods: Star Wars has it all. But one type of apparel you won’t typically see in that galaxy far away is a cowboy hat — with one exception.
Minor spoilers ahead for The Mandalorian and Grogu.
In The Mandalorian and Grogu, we get several glimpses of a bearded New Republic pilot sporting a wide-brimmed hat straight out of a Western. You might not recognize the actor (he hasn’t done very much acting), but it’s none other than Lucasfilm co-CEO Dave Filoni, reprising his minor The Mandalorian role as Trapper Wolf.
Filoni, who got his start working with George Lucas on The Clone Wars and then co-created Star Wars Rebels, shows up twice in The Mandalorian and Grogu, first early on when Mando reports back to his New Republic boss at a cantina full of X-Wing pilots, and a second time near the end of the film when those pilots swoop in to save the day.
The first time we saw Filoni in the Star Wars universe was in The Mandalorian season 2 in an episode directed by Peyton Reed (Marvel’s Ant-Man trilogy) where he and his fellow ranger Captain Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) show up at the last minute to save Mando and Grogu from a giant spider. The two pilots appeared a couple more times to get our heroes out of various jams (Filoni often appeared wearing a cowboy hat, which he frequently wears in real life), and also attempted to recruit former Rebel Alliance shock trooper Cara Dune (Gina Carano) to join their cause.
Then in 2020, Disney made it official. Carano was getting her own show titled Star Wars: Rangers of the New Republic, with Filoni and Lee presumably along for the ride. The Mando-verse was getting bigger.
And then, suddenly, it wasn’t. In February 2021, Carano, who had always drawn some criticism for her political opinions, began to make those opinions extremely public. Several anti-vax claims shared during the COVID-19 pandemic drew harsh criticism, but it was an anti-Semitic meme shared on Twitter that ultimately sealed Cara Dune’s fate. Disney publicly fired her, called the tweet “abhorrent and unacceptable,” and quietly canceled Rangers.
That was also largely the end of Filoni’s onscreen role. He went on to serve as showrunner of Ahsoka and then officially replaced Kathleen Kennedy as Lucasfilm CEO when she stepped down in January 2026. So it’s a bit of a surprise to see his face (and iconic hat) onscreen in The Mandalorian and Grogu. Isn’t he busy running the studio?
Then again, the first new Star Wars movie in seven years is as good a reason as any to make a cameo, even if it does serve as a reminder of a major controversy that still stings for many Mandalorian fans.
The Mandalorian and Grogu is playing in theaters.
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