The Mandalorian season 1, episode 6: 9 Star Wars references and Easter eggs you might have missed

A daring prison heist turns sour in the Disney+ series’ explosive sixth episode

The Mandalorian gave us a rare glimpse into its main character’s past in an explosive sixth episode, which also brought in a couple of recognisable guest stars.

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“Chapter 6: The Prisoner” began with the Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) reaching out to his old friend Ran (Mark Boone Jr), who had assembled a crew of criminal aces to bust someone called Qin out of a New Republic prison ship.

Leading the crew was Mayfeld, played by comedian Bill Burr, while Richard Ayoade voiced the crew’s pilot, an unsettling droid called Q9-0.

The mission went as planned, until Mando was betrayed by his shifty crewmates and locked in a prison cell. Escaping, he dispatched with each member of the unscrupulous crew one-by-one, Alien-style, before returning to Ran to serve some just desserts.

Here are 10 of the Star Wars references you might have missed in “The Prisoner”...

1. New Republic Logo

The logo emblazoned on the New Republic prison ship resembles the famous insignia from the original trilogy, but it’s not actually the symbol for the Rebel Alliance – the slightly-altered badge was adopted by the New Republic after the fall of the Empire in Return of the Jedi.

2. X-wings

Speaking of relics of the Rebel Alliance… the starfighters that come and attack the hanger at the end of the episode can be easily recognised as X-Wing fighters, as made famous by Luke Skywalker in the rebel attack on the Death Star in A New Hope.

3. Imperial Sharpshooter

Mayfeld makes a big deal out of the fact that he was never an Imperial Stormtrooper but part of the more highly specialised Sharpshooter class. This is likely a dig at the Stormtrooper’s infamously terrible marksmanship, dating all the way back to the original Star Wars.

4. Burg

The horned heavy called Burg is a Devaronian – a species first sighted in A New Hope’s famous cantina scene.

5. Twi’leks

The blue aliens with two unmissable feelers protruding from their skulls make another (bigger) appearance this week, by way of the sinister twi’lek rogues Xi’an and Qin.

Natalia Tena plays the double-crossing Twi’lek Xi’an in ‘The Prisoner’ (Disney+)

6. Ardennian

In one of the cells aboard the prison ship, you can clearly see an Ardennian – a member of the short, four-armed alien species that was created for the recent Solo: A Star Wars Story. In Solo, the Ardennian pilot Rio Durant was voiced by Jon Favreau, who created The Mandalorian.

7. Gungans

Joking about what the Mandalorian might look like under his ever-present helmet, Mayfeld jokes that he might be a Gungan, before impersonating the distinctive (and problematic) voice used by despised prequel goofball Jar Jar Binks.

8. Canto Bight

Mayfeld also makes a comment about the Mandalorian’s ship, the Razor Crest, comparing it to a slot machine on Canto Bight – the casino planet explored by Finn and Rose Tico in Episode VIII – The Last Jedi.

9. Alzoc III

At one point, Xi’an tells Mayfeld to “ask him about the job on Alzoc III.” Alzoc II is a frozen planet in the outer rim, mentioned in several Star Wars video games.