Star Wars: The Mandalorian’s Dave Filoni Reveals Easter Eggs He Sneaks in Every Episode He Directs

When it comes to pretty much anything in the Star Wars universe, there’s sure to be Easter Eggs, but when it comes to Star Wars: The Mandalorian, there are likely a few fans haven’t found. Dave Filoni, who serves as an executive producer for The Mandalorian as well as writes and directs on the series as well, revealed at Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim this weekend that he slips in Akira Kurosawa Easter Eggs as well as nods to his hometown of Pittsburg with every episode of the series he directs.

“There’s one thing I do in particular that I don’t think anyone will ever see, but a lot of my influences come obviously from George [Lucas] and then George, his mentor is Akira Kurosawa and so I’ve done a lot of study of that and talking to George about it,” Filoni said. “So, I have a really small Akira Kurosawa figure and he is in every episode I’ve directed somewhere in the set. And so, I hide him in there, and when we shoot an episode I’m directing he’s always right by the monitors to remind me of a lot of his principles of filmmaking that he gave to George, so he’s kind of another influence on what I’m doing. He’s in there, but it’ll be very hard to see him.”

Filoni also revealed the little nods to Pittsburgh he tucks into episodes as well.

“And there are other little Pittsburg homages, I just love my hometown, so you’ll see little golden triangles here and there,” he said.

The Kurosawa Easter Egg isn’t the only interesting tidbit that was revealed in The Mandalorian discussion either. Filoni revealed during the discussion that there were visual effects that were paid for that were never actually used in episodes as part of how he and Jon Favreau juggled avoiding spoilers and leaks for the popular series. Filoni explained that frequently, actors wouldn’t know who they were in scenes with, with Filoni and Favreau using codewords instead. They gave the example of Rosario Dawson not knowing she was acting with Luke Skywalker with Jedi Master Plo Koon being referenced instead, including production artwork of Plo Kloon instead of Luke as well as a CGI head of Plo Kloon being created but never used, thus fooling cast and crew members, and avoiding leaks.

As for those Kurosawa Easter Eggs, now that fans know they’re in Filoni’s episodes of The Mandalorian, fans are certainly going to go back to rewatch and try to find them and they do have a bit of time to go through all of the episodes of the first two seasons of The Mandalorian to do so. It was announced that Season 3 of Star Wars: The Mandalorian is set to drop on Disney+ in February 2023.

What do you think about Filoni’s Easter Eggs? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section!