Editor’s Note: The following contains full spoilers for The Mandalorian Season 3, Episode 6The Mandalorianjust had one of the most star-studded episodes in the show’s entire three-season run, but perhaps the biggest cameo in"Guns for Hire"is a fan-favorite droid from the popularStar Tourstheme park attraction.
There are plenty of big names that appear in the sixth episode ofThe MandalorianSeason 3, includingJack Blackas a former Imperial turned benevolent leader,Lizzoas the wealthy duchess of a sovereign settlement, andChristopher Lloydas a former separatist-turned-head droid overseer. Speaking of droids,Star Warsfans will certainly notice that both the B1 and B2 battle droids make their big live-action return in the episode, though instead of being mindless murder bots for the Separatist Alliance, they are a part of the planet’s dedicated workforce.
We get to see a very different side of droids in theStar Warsuniverse with the episode. Here on this advanced utopia, we see the droids not just as mindless drones to serve living sentient beings, but we also see that they are more than capable of complex sentience and emotion themselves. The clearest example of this is when Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) follow a lead about the rogue droids to a nearby droid bar, where the bartender (Seth Gabel) informs the two Mandalorians that he hopes they find who is responsible for the attacks as they may get the innocent robots shut down.
It’s during that sequence that eagle-eyed viewers may notice two RX-Series pilot droids — a type of droid that has a long history in bothStar Warsand Disney theme parks.
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What Is Star Tours?
Long before Disney became the proud owner of Lucasfilm and theStar WarsIP, the House of Mouse and theGeorge Lucas-owned brand began a collaboration in the 1980s to bring aStar Warsattraction to the Disney-branded theme parks. Thus,Star Toursmade its big debut in 1987 at Disneyland, California, which promised to take fans on an intergalactic adventure in a galaxy far, far away. Fans eager to ride the attraction stood in a highly immersive queue that’s made to look like aStar Warsversion of an airport, getting to see the ship they’ll be flying in and even getting a glimpse at some familiar faces in C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2.
After watching a brief safety video, passengers then get to board the revolutionary motion simulator attraction, and it’s there where we meet the most famous RX pilot droid of all time - RX-24 (Paul Reubens), otherwise known as Rex. Once the ride officially begins, the passengers learn that Rex will be their pilot for a guided tour to the planet Endor, the Ewok home world that originated fromReturn of the Jedi. However, when Rex informs the passengers that this is his first-ever flight, it becomes very clear, very quickly that this trip isn’t going to go as planned. Instead of going for a relaxing trip to the forest planet, Rex and his passengers find themselves flying into comets and getting into deadly dogfights with the Empire, before they’re finally able to arrive safely back to the spaceport.
Is Rex Still a Part of Star Tours?
Rex would continue to have his first flight onStar Toursfor quite some time, but as beloved and iconic as the attraction was, some fans were likely hoping to see more of what theStar Warsuniverse had to offer. In 2016, the ride would get a pretty significant facelift, adding dozens of new combinations and locations to visit using the same ride system. Now dubbedStar Tours: The Adventure Continues, the ride is still going strong today,even adding new elements to this day from content like the planets from the sequel trilogy. Unfortunately, while much of the ride remained the same, Rex would be fired from his job as a Star Tours pilot and replaced by both newer and more efficient RX models (and a rather clueless C-3PO who finds himself accidentally piloting the ship for the ride).
The only remnant of the original RX droids can be found in the ride’s queue, where several of them can be seen in old shipping containers following their replacement. However, if you’re worried that this is too sad of an ending for Rex, this isn’t the end of the droid’s story.
The RX Droids Made Their Television Debut in ‘Star Wars: Rebels’
We’ll get back to Rex in a second, but before the rookie pilot returned to Disney parks, we saw the RX droids appear inStar Wars: Rebels. The droid’s appearance in the animated series is brief, but we also see what a more experienced version of the pilot droid looks like when the Rebels travel in a shuttle piloted by one.
Rex Returns to Disney Parks as a DJ in Galaxy’s Edge
Not long after Disney purchased Lucasfilm andStar Wars, they quickly began work on an even bigger expansion to the parks, that being an entire separate land called Galaxy’s Edge. Taking place on thecompletely original planet of Batuu,Star Warsfans everywhere could now live out their ultimate sci-fi fantasies, complete with two new rides, various shopping opportunities, and best of all, an authentic and immersiveStar Warscantina (although you won’t have to worry about aggressive aliens getting their arms chopped off by lightsabers).
The cantina has quite a big surprise, as the DJ of the club is none other than our old pal Rex. Apparently leaving his life of ship piloting behind, Rex has found a new profession in the vibrant environment of Oga’s Cantina, where he plays everything from original tunes to remixed classics from the franchise. It’s abundantly clear that Rex (still to this day voiced by Paul Reubens) is much more comfortable with his new life, and it’s honestly a refreshing change of pace to see a little-known fan-favorite in the franchise get a happy ending.
