The Mandalorian‘s second season ended with a hell of a bang. After a daring rescue mission to retrieve Grogu from Moff Gideon’s evil clutches, the gang were cornered on the ship’s bridge by a squad of killer robot Death troopers. The scene looked set for a heroic sacrifice until a single X-Wing arrived and a hooded figure emerged. As he carved his way through the ship with a familiar green lightsaber, fans became increasingly excited as it turned out that this was indeed Luke Skywalker coming to save the day.
Luke left with Grogu to complete his Jedi training, setting the stage for a third season about a Mandalorian power struggle between Bo-Katan and Din Djarin over the future of Mandalore and the Darksaber. But there was one Mandalorian who didn’t show up for the party. Simon Kassianides’ Axe Woves was in Bo-Katan’s squad in the episode “The Heiress,” and many fans wondered why he didn’t join her here.
Well, Katee Sackhoff has now commented on his absence in an interview and while she can’t give the exact reason, it seems it was intentional.
“He just wasn’t there! He just wasn’t there. And there’s a reason. It’s just one of those things where I don’t know if that story is something I’m supposed to tell. So he’s just not there.”
Sackhoff also mentioned that Luke’s appearance was a surprise even to her. Apparently, on set, the actors were aware they were talking with a mystery Jedi, but the showrunners didn’t confirm exactly who their savior was.
“I thought to myself, ‘They would have let us know that. You know, they said… Who did they say it was? I think [partner] Robin [Gadsby] knew who they said it was, but it was a complete red herring. So we didn’t know. I knew it was a Jedi. I knew it was an X-wing. So you start to put things together, but you don’t know.”
That secrecy was a big part of why Luke Skywalker’s return (and Mark Hamill reprising the role) was kept a secret right up until the moment the episode aired and I’m impressed that they managed to hide it and hope they can repeat the feat in the future. In the meantime, we can look forward to The Mandalorian‘s third run hopefully debuting later this year.
