SPOILERS AHEAD for the Season 2 finale of The Mandalorian!
A brand new Disney+ special focused on the season 2 finale of The Mandalorian has shared a behind-the-scenes look at how the team brought back Luke Skywalker and kept him secret using Jedi Master Plo Koon as fake-out.
This special episode of Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian is available to all subscribers on Disney+ right now and gives a fascinating look into the making of the show’s latest finale that saw Grogu/Baby Yoda leaving Din Djarin (aka The Mandalorian) to go with Luke Skywalker. Hearing from both the crew and Mark Hamill himself on how they made this ending possible was both heartwarming and fascinating.
For example, keeping the reveal of Mark Hamill returning as Luke Skywalker was one of the hardest things for the team to do, and it came with as much hard work as trying to keep Grogu from leaking out early.
One of the main ways they did this was putting Jedi Master Plo Koon in the script where Luke was actually supposed to be. This meant many of the cast and crew assumed Plo Koon was the Jedi who Grogu reached out to.
For those who are unfamiliar, Plo Koon was one of the Jedi who did not survive Order 66 in Revenge of the Sith, which takes place after the events of The Mandalorian. He was also heavily featured in Star Wars: The Clone Wars as well.
The reason Plo Koon was chosen was in part due to the fact that the Kel Dor Jedi Master is Dave Filoni’s favorite. This fake-out would protect the secret from those on the cast and crew and would throw off fans who would think he would be a logical choice if it were to leak to the public.
Not only was Plo Koon put into the script, but there was concept artwork made of him for the scene in question instead of Luke, certain dailies would have the Jedi Master’s face digitally placed on a body, and much more.
The special also revealed that executive producer Jon Favreau and director Peyton Reed took Grogu over to Mark Hamill’s house to help convince him to return to that galaxy far, far away. Luckily, Hamill didn’t need much convincing.
Hamill talked about how he was contacted by Jon and Dave, who invited him to share his opinion on something in The Mandalorian. He said that the request “should have been a giveaway.”
“When they went from the original trilogy to the sequels, obviously there is a huge gap in time where there are these untold stories, but I just assumed they’d get an age-appropriate actor,” Hamill said on the thought of him returning as Luke. “I didn’t really think about it all that much, I thought, ‘Oh, if they wanted to tell stories of Luke post-Return of the Jedi, I wonder who they’d get.’
“When they said they were going to use the de-aging process they used in the Marvel movies, I was just gob-smacked. I didn’t answer right away, I mean I had to think about it. The more I thought about it, I thought, ‘This is like really an opportunity that was completely unexpected but was almost a responsibility.’ In other words, if they are saying they want me to do this, how could I say no?”
Peyton Reed then shared the story about how, in December 2019, he and Jon Favreau went to Hamill’s home with the episode’s script, Luke Skywalker’s wardrobe, and the Grogu puppet. Reed and Favreau were a bit worried because they had to wait while Hamill read the script in his office in real-time when they got there.
Reed then said that Hamill came out and “he was thrilled, and I think a huge weight was lifted off of Jon’s shoulders when that happened.”
“When you have those feelings, where it feels really compelling, you know that you’re onto something,” Favreau said of this journey. “We knew that if we could pull this off it would represent so much to so many people. Especially to Mark, it will let him come in there and show Luke at this moment and let it be a celebration, and also a culmination of the two-season arc about the journey of this little child.”
As to how they made this de-aging magic happen, the team explained how it was accomplished with a combination of exploring Deep Fake technology and other de-aging techniques that utilized countless amounts of photos, film footage, interviews, and much more of Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker to make this dream come true. They ended up utilizing the de-aging technology and learned a lot along the way.
While Mark Hamill was on set in full Jedi gear that was purposefully reminiscent of what he wore in Return of the Jedi, there was also another actor named Max Lloyd-Jones who physically resembled a younger Hamill that was used to fully create the Luke we see on screen. Hamill himself couldn’t believe how much Lloyd-Jone looked like him, saying “he looks more like me than me!”
“He’d watch me do the scenes, I’d watch him do the scenes, so we’d try to match each other,” Hamill said. “I would look at the monitor and, of course, the image is small, but I thought, ‘oh my gosh, he looks more like me than me!’ It was just uncanny… this guy… and he’s a good actor!”
To help make this younger version of Luke Skywalker, the team used a combination of the “de-aging magic” and footage of Hamill and Lloyd-Jones on set and in a lighting rig called the Egg that would let them get proper lighting and resolution to use in creating the final image.
Hamill’s likeness wasn’t the only thing that had to be recreated, however, as his voice was also synthesized using an application called Respeacher. This application is a neural network that used archival material like clean recorded ADR from the original films, a book on tape Hamill had done from that time, and Star Wars radio plays from that time to recreate his voice for this new performance.
While the tech behind bringing Luke Skywalker is impressive, it isn’t that alone that lends to the magic of that final scene. In addition to hiding Luke’s face and letting the scene build before the reveal, music also played a big part. In fact, Luke’s appearance is the first time we hear John Williams’ music from the original trilogy in the episode.
All of this builds up to a moment that is meant to mean something for fans of all ages. Filoni summed that sentiment up by saying that is what Star Wars is all about, giving the world a good and uplifting feeling, which they hope they accomplished with Luke and Mark Hamill’s return.
“You see your crew just staring at Mark, and you realize they are remembering what it meant to them,” Filoni said. “And you realize that you’ve been a part of constructing something that is giving that experience to people… this good feeling. Which fundamentally, Star Wars should deliver a good feeling, an uplifting feeling in you and your family.”
While we don’t know when/if Hamill and Grogu will return, The Mandalorian will return for a third season. According to star Giancarlo Esposito, production is set to begin soon now that filming for The Book of Boba Fett is now complete.
For more, check out our review of The Mandalorian’s second season and how Mark Hamill has done secret voice cameos for every Star Wars movie since 2015.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.