The Mandalorian has a big cameo for Star Wars Rebels fans

This week’s episode of The Mandalorian Season 3, “The Pirate,” saw the return of Caron Teva, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee’s New Republic Starfighter captain who first crossed paths with Din Djarin last season. But Teva wasn’t the only familiar face — a certain purple-haired Lasat starfighter made his first live-action Star Wars appearance this week. That’s right: that tall alien who felt sorry for Teva at the bar was none other than Star Wars Rebels‘ Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios.

For those who are not familiar with it Star Wars Rebelsthe 2014 animated series co-created and produced by Dave Filoni, who serves as an executive producer of The Mandalorianhere’s the gist: Zeb is a former rebel starship pilot turned captain of the New Republic and served as a member of the Specters, a group of resistance fighters and the protagonists of Star Wars Rebels. Steve Blum, the voice actor best known for voicing the character Spike Spiegel in the 1998 English version of the anime Cowboy Bebopreprized his role as Zeb in this week’s episode for the first time since then rebels wrapped up.

The Mandalorian And Boba Fett’s book have sprinkled Easter eggs and are calling back to 2008 Star Wars: the Clone Wars and that of 2014 Star Wars Rebels already in the second season of the first. Mandalorian has shown the live-action debut of not only Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker’s former apprentice turned Jedi-in-exile; and a passing mention of Grand Admiral Thrawn, the namesake of Timothy’s Zahn’s trilogy of novels who made his first now canonical appearance in Star Wars Rebels; but also Cad Bane; the ruthless bounty hunter with red eyes and blue skin Star Wars: the Clone Warswho made his live-action debut in the latest episode of Boba Fett’s book.

Zeb’s performance in this week’s episode can be seen as just another cool “Hey, I know the guy” moment for longtime fans of Dave Filoni’s Star Wars series. But it can also be a hint of things to come. Eman Esfandi (The inspection) will appear in the upcoming Star Wars TV series Ahsoka if Star Wars RebelsEzra Bridger, one of the members of the Specters who served with Zeb in the Rebel Alliance’s war against the Galactic Empire. So it seems that the events of rebels will not occupy a small space Ahsokaand this cameo may not be the last we’ve seen of Zeb and his fellow crew members.

If nothing else, that’s a sign that Star Wars Rebels still holds an important place in the future of the Star Wars Expanded Universe.