Star Wars actor Mark Hamill had a secret cameo as a droid in The Mandalorian season 1 on Disney+. Hamill is, of course, best known for playing Luke Skywalker in the saga, a role he's stepped into for six of the nine episodic movies spanning over 40 years. However, while he'll always be known as Luke to Star Wars fans, that's far from the only character that he's played in a galaxy far, far away.
A celebrated voice actor, Hamill has played a number of Star Wars characters over the years. Aside from Luke, he's voiced the likes of the Sith Lord Darth Bane in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the Canto Bight gambler Dobbu Scay in The Last Jedi, and the alien Boolio in The Rise of Skywalker. Hamill's reach extends into all corners of the Star Wars universe, and that, somewhat surprisingly, also includes its first live-action series, The Mandalorian.
In "Connections", episode 8 of the Disney+ behind-the-scenes documentary series Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian, the show explores the various Star Wars characters and props that made it into The Mandalorian, from the walkers to The Empire Strikes Back's ice-cream maker. Here, it's revealed that Mark Hamill had a secret cameo in The Mandalorian season 1. Hamill's appearance came in episode 5, "The Gunslinger", where he lent his voice talents to the bartending droid, EV-9D9, with Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau confirming that Hamill "came in to voice the droid."
In The Mandalorian's "The Gunslinger", the characters visit iconic Star Wars planet Tatooine, going back to the cantina on Mos Eisley. A few changes have been made though, with one of the biggest the fact that the cantina is now run by droids. The EV-9D9 droid first appeared working at Jabba's Palace in Return of the Jedi, where they were responsible for overseeing the other droids at Jabba's disposal. After the fall of the Hutts, EV-9D9 has at least been able to find some new work, and seemingly reversed the re-programming Jabba had done. It's confirmed in the documentary that this is supposed to be the same droid from Return of the Jedi, with the added fun twist being that once they weren't allowed in the bar, and now they're running it (a few versions of the EV series can be seen working in the bar). Hamill's droid has a brief interaction with the Mandalorian, telling him: "Unfortunately, the bounty guild can no longer operate on Tatooine."
The scene itself is a treasure trove of Star Wars Easter eggs and references - in the same documentary episode, it's also confirmed that the astromech droid briefly glimpsed is the very same R5-D4 droid from A New Hope - but it's Hamill's cameo that really stands out. It remains to be seen whether or not Luke Skywalker himself will ever appear in The Mandalorian - though he'd likely have to be played by a different actor, or have Hamill significantly de-aged - but Hamill himself is at least part of the show. He is such a huge part of Star Wars, so it's great that he was able to make his presence felt, even if it's just a voice role.