Matt Lanter, the voice of Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series, makes a cameo appearance as the New Republic prison guard in The Mandalorian: Chapter 6.

And the three New Republic X-wing starfighter pilots seen at the end of The Mandalorian: Chapter 6 were also familiar faces. The trio of fighters are played by Chapter 3 director Deborah Chow, Chapter 2 director and Chapter 6 writer/director Rick Famuyiwa, and Chapter 1 director and Chapter 4 writer/director Dave Filoni.

The mouse droid scurrying through the halls of the prison ship is CH-33Z, the same droid that occasionally appears on The Star Wars Show.

The space station where the Mandalorian meets his old mercenary gang was designed to reflect real- world automotive chop shops, where sweaty workers cut up and assemble motorcycles and hotrods in a greasy and spark-filled garage, as opposed to the makeshift Rebel or orderly Imperial hangars typically seen in Star Wars. Concept supervisor Ryan Church shaped the space station’s exterior to consciously reflect The Empire Strikes Back’s Cloud City, but interpreted more crudely. For the chop shop’s aperture to space, Church intentionally moved away from the parallel lines of Imperial or First Order hangars, choosing a trapezoidal design instead.

In designing the New Republic prisoner Qin, concept artist Brian Matyas wanted to contrast the creepy and decrepit majordomo Bib Fortuna from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi with a more fit and tough Twi’lek, while retaining the two forehead lumps often found on males of the species.

Recognizing the Hollywood and Spaghetti Western film influence that pervades The Mandalorian, concept supervisor Christian Alzmann sought to evoke the feeling of a stagecoach or steam train robbery in his design of the New Republic prison ship. Alzmann repeated boxy shapes, like a train, on the vessel’s exterior, even mimicking a cow-catcher on its front. The round prison cell doors on the interior suggested an Old West bank vault door.