Yes, The Mandalorian Season 3, Chapter 21 Cameo Was EXACTLY Who You Thought It Was [Spoilers]

[Warning: contains a big spoiler for The Mandalorian Season 3, Chapter 21, ‘The Pirate.’ Read on at your own risk.] Things are certainly getting interesting in The Mandalorian Season 3. Admittedly, some fans have complained that Din Djarin is getting The Book of Boba Fett treatment (i.e. appearing to be a secondary character in his own show. There’s no question that the focus has been on Bo Katan. From this writer’s perspective, that’s just fine. The season is clearly building to a crescendo on Mandalore. But The Mandalorian Chapter 21, ‘The Pirate’ gave us something perhaps even more exciting than that: another animated character’s leap to live-action!

Season 3, Chapter 21 returns the Mandalorians to Nevarro, but not before Ranger Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung tries to elicit the aid of the New Republic. Nevarro, you see, is under siege, and Greef Carga is desperate for help. Teva receives a distress call from Carga while on downtime at Adelphi Base. We he does, we learn that The Mandalorian Season 3 is unquestionably pulling out all the stops while linking all, modern Star Wars storytelling. How do we know this? Because joining Teva at the bar while he views Carga’s message is a hulking Lasat pilot. Yes fans, it’s true: the Lasat is none other than Garazeb “Zeb” Orellios. Take heed, Mandalorians; Star Wars: Rebels has entered the chat.

Zeb Orrelios joins The Mandalorian Season 3

Everything Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau do is done for a reason. Thus, we know that Zeb (voiced again by Steve Blum) appearing is likely going to have far greater implications than as just a fan-service cameo. Between the appearance of the Purrgil earlier in The Mandalorian Season 3 and Zeb’s appearance, it’s clear this season is building up to the Ahsoka premiere later this year. With that upcoming series, we’re now assured that every member of the Ghost crew from Rebels will make their way to live action… Except, that is, for Kanan Jarrus.

Zeb’s appearance in The Mandalorian Season 3 all but confirms that the Ghost crew did indeed all go their separate ways. The Rebels series finale saw Zeb embrace his bond with Kallus as he took the former Imperial to the new Lasat home world. Now, Zeb has clearly returned from there and (re)joined the New Republic. Did he heed Hera Syndulla’s call to return to service, perhaps? Does this hint at a live-action Kallus sighting, as well? Zeb’s appearance certainly raises a lot of questions. We’re looking forward to finding out the answers as the season progresses towards the Ahoska premiere.

The Mandalorian Season 3 is streaming now on Disney+. For more information you can always visit starwars.com.