WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Mandalorian.
This week's The Mandalorian's featured three surprising cameos toward the end of the episode. The outing, titled "The Prisoner", is the sixth out of the show's eight for its first season. Directed by Rick Famuyiwa and penned by Christopher Yost, this is only the second time where creator Jon Favreau didn't write the episode (the first one was last week's "The Gunslinger", helmed and written by Dave Filoni). After Dyn Jarren (Pedro Pascal) and baby Yoda made a pit stop at Tatooine, the pair finds themselves alongside a rag tag of mercenaries for a job.
Reuniting with an old acquaintance, Ran (Mark Boone Jr.), Dyn joined a team to free a New Republic prisoner, Qin (Ismael Cruz Cordova). The episode was full of familiar faces playing various characters like Bill Burr as Mayfeld, Clancy Brown as Burg, Natalia Tena as Xi'an and Richard Ayoade voicing droid named Zero. Meanwhile, Star Wars: The Clone Wars' Anakin Skywalker voice actor Matt Lanter played a New Republic officer.
There were three other special cameos in the episode, however. After Dyn delivered the prisoner to Ran and got his payment, he cooly flew out of the space station. The conniving Ran then deployed a ship to kill Mando, what he didn't know was that Dyn snuck in the New Order tracker in Qin's pocket. And on cue, three X-Wings came flying by as they located their escaped inmate. The ships were piloted by Filoni, Famuyiwa and Deborah Chow (the director of the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series) who have all helmed an episode or two of The Mandalorian.
All in all, there are five directors involved in The Mandalorian's first season. Filoni, Famuyiwa and Chow get two episodes each, while Bryce Dallas Howard and Taika Waititi (who also played IG-11) directed one each. Filoni and Famuyiwa both have released their episodes ("Chapter 1" and "The Gunslinger" for the former, while "The Child" and "The Prisoner" for the latter), but Chow still has a second outing in the pipeline. She helmed episode 3 titled "The Sin," as well as next week's installment of The Mandalorian, which is still currently untitled.
The directors aren't the only The Mandalorian creatives who have had a cameo in the series. Back in episode 3, Favreau voiced Paz Vizla (physically played by Tait Fletcher) - a fellow Mandalorian who specifically condemned Dyn for transacting with the Empire. He eventually changed his mind and helped Dyn and baby Yoda escape the bounty hunters going after the Force-sensitive child. Many assumed that Favreau's role was an homage to his The Clone Wars character Pre Vizsla of Clan Vizlsa, although it's worth noting the difference of the names' spellings.
It's anybody's guess if we're ever going to see more of Filoni, Famuyiwa and Chow's X-Wing pilots, but it's safe to assume that their appearance in The Mandalorian's was nothing more than a cameo. Nevertheless, it's still a great way to get the directors in front of the camera and a fun Easter egg for Star Wars fans.