Why The Pilots In The Mandalorian Chapter 10 Look So Familiar
Spoilers follow for Chapter 10 of The Mandalorian.
The tenth episode of The Mandalorian sees its titular hero recruited as what Mando derisively calls "a taxi service." Mando (Pedro Pascal) is asked to ferry a frog-like passenger (Misty Rosas) and her eggs to the next system in exchange for information on where to find another culvert of Mandalorians.
The catch is the journey has to be made at sublight speeds, since jumping through hyperspace would kill the eggs. This leaves the Razor Crest vulnerable, and allows it to get pulled over by a couple of New Republic X-Wings, who claim his transponder isn't on. After almost wiggling out of their request to identify his ship, Mando finally sends them a ping so they can get his ID.
When he does so, he sees the pair open their S-foils. They've identified his ship as the one that participated in the prison break from the New Republic ship back in Chapter 6, and so he makes a break for it, dropping through a nearby planet's cloudy atmosphere and taking refuge in the ice canyons below.
We only get brief glimpses of the pilots in their cockpits during the chase, but that's enough for fans to perhaps get a flash of recognition of them both, albeit from two very different sources.
Who plays the two pilots in The Mandalorian Chapter 10?
One of the pilots, Trapper Wolf, is played by longtime Star Wars writer, director, and showrunner Dave Filoni, who masterminded Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. He's also an executive producer on The Mandalorian, for which he directed one episode of the first season and another of the second that has yet to be released. Most of his acting experience is limited to voice work, but if Filoni looks familiar in that orange jumpsuit, it's because he was one of three pilots who pursued Mando after the prison break in Chapter 6, alongside other series directors Rick Famuyiwa and Deborah Chow.
The other pilot, Carson Teva, is portrayed by Korean Canadian actor Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, who has done a variety of television work, primarily in Canada. He appeared in six episodes of Degrassi: The Next Generation and was a lead in the improvised soap opera Train 48, but is best known for starring in the acclaimed Canadian sitcom Kim's Convenience, about a family of Korean immigrants who own and operate a convenience store in Toronto. Lee won two best actor recognitions from the Canadian Screen Awards for his performance in the show.
Given the creature horror nature of the threat Mando faces on the ice world, it's perhaps a little surprising that both of these minor characters survive their timely intervention. With the New Republic emerging as the dominant galactic force, Mando's run-ins with its representatives probably aren't over — maybe more Filoni cameos are in the offing. Audiences will have to wait for more episodes of The Continuing Adventures of Trapper Wolf Featuring the Mandalorian to find out.