Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker Is Getting His Own Star Wars Special Next Month
Mark Hamill is getting a spotlight in a new Star Wars special.
This article is more than 2 years old
While the Star Wars franchise is now moving forward with new characters and their stories set in a galaxy far, far away, the significance of the characters that established its foundation has not ceased. Thus when a lone X-wing zoomed into focus in The Mandalorian Season 2 finale, it was enough for Star Wars fans to lose their calm as it meant that Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker is back. And as there is so much more that fans would love to know about that electrifying scene, Disney is more than happy to oblige.
In the Season 2 finale, Luke Skywalker appeared out of the blue and dispatched Dark Troopers in an impressive Darth-Vader style before taking Grogu (Baby Yoda) away with him to give him the proper training he needs to realize the true potential of his powers. As The Mandalorian Season 3’s production is months away from beginning, we will have to wait to know the fate of Grogu and how Mando has been coping in his absence. Meanwhile, we something else to look forward to- an upcoming special episode that will detail how Mark Hamill appeared as a young Luke Skywalker in the finale.
The official Twitter page of Star Wars recently posted that they will be releasing a special episode of Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian, Making of the Season 2 Finale, focused on the “the best-kept secret of The Mandalorian Season 2” on August 25, 2021. While Mark Hamill wasn’t the only surprise in the Disney+ series’ second season, he was certainly the only one that wasn’t spoiled. Season 2 played host to the live-action debut of the Mandalorian warrior, Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) and the former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano, as well as marked the return of the assassin Fennec Shand. Unfortunately, Disney was unable to keep the news of their arrival a secret for long, in fact, it was the studio itself that accidentally spoiled the live-action debut of Ahsoka Tano.
But surprisingly, even when the storyline of Season 2 indicated that a Jedi will be appearing to take Grogu under his or her tutelage, the only thing fans could do was speculate about who it could be. Though Luke Skywalker remained a plausible option, Mark Hamill had strongly denied having any desire of ever playing Luke Skywalker again. So, it was speculated that some other actor, maybe Sebastian Stan, will play the younger version of the Jedi Master. But it all ended up being a cover to hide that Hamill was indeed returning to play the character.
As for how the finale was filmed, all we know is what Jon Favreau has shared with fans. It was speculated that it was actor Max Lloyd-Jones who played Luke with Mark Hamill’s CGI’d face with the latter only voicing the character as the episode credits listed Lloyd-Jones as the stand-in for the Jedi. But Favreau has confirmed that Hamill filmed the entire sequence of his arrival on Moff Gideon’s ship and then they used VFX technology to de-age him, which means Lloyd-Jones was probably brought in to portray the needed youthful agility in the action sequence in the closing minutes of the finale. And in case there are any lingering questions, the upcoming special episode depicting the making of the finale will hopefully answer them all.
