The Mandalorian’s New Episode Has a Major Game of Thrones Cameo Fans Didn’t Notice

The Mandalorian’s latest episode, “Chapter 15: The Believer” has a major Game of Thrones cameo – though most fans probably didn’t even notice it. Among the several big guest stars (like comedian Bill Burr) in this latest episode of The Mandalorian season 2, there was one scene that had fans scratching their head in wonder, at a seen-it-somewhere face in the cast. That face belongs to Imperial commander Valin Hess, who is part of Moff Gideon’s Imperial remnant division. If Hess seemed more menacing than the usual Star Wars villain, it’s probably because fans still feel the dread of seeing him as Game of Thrones’ Night King!

Warning: Spoilers for The Mandalorian follow!

In “Chapter 15: The Believer” Mando/Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) has to reunite with former Imperial sharpshooter Mayfeld (Bill Burr) to infiltrate an Imperial base. There they hope to access Imperial terminals to get a location on Moff Gideon’s ship so that Mando and his allies can stage a much-needed rescue of Baby Yoda/Grogu. It’s a hard fight to get in (with some awesome action sequences!), but Mando and Mayfeld make their way into the base disguised as Transport troopers, and get to the terminal.

Unfortunately, the pair of infiltrators also get pulled into drinking and swapping stories with one of the base commanders, Valin Hess – who is played by Richard Brake. Brake is a longtime character actor that fans probably know as one of those “seen him somewhere” faces. He’s best known for playing the lean menacing/sinister type in films like Doom, Kingsman, Hannibal Rising, and various Rob Zombie Films (3 From Hell, Halloween II). He also was the first actor to play The Night King in Game of Thrones – a role he held for seasons 4 – 5 of the show.

While the Night King was later recast (actor Vladimir Furdik) for the climactic battle between the living and dead of Westeros, it is Richard Brake who arguably achieved greater fame, as his Night King is immortalized in .gifs and memes, during the scene where the villain raises a new army of the dead, after facing Jon Snow and his allies at the Battle of Hardhome (season 5, episode 8). Brake channels that same evil energy as Star Wars villain Valin Hess; his monologue about The Empire’s horrific “Operation Cinder” campaign leaves both Mando and Mayfield unnerved by being in the presence of such pure evil. Thankfully Mayfeld does the galaxy a favor and makes sure Brake’s appearance as Hess is a quick one-off.

The Mandalorian season 2 is streaming on Disney+.