The Mandalorian Creator Jon Favreau Hadn’t Initially Planned on Including Luke Skywalker

The second season of The Mandalorian culminated in the reveal of Luke Skywalker, who appeared and recruited Grogu to go for Jedi training, though series creator Jon Favreau recently detailed how he hadn’t intended on making this a climactic moment for the series, but that the writing process instead organically brought him to such a point. Given the excitement that the moment generated among the Star Wars community, as well as the appreciation shown by Mark Hamill for the opportunity to drop by the series, it will likely come as a surprise to audiences that this appearance wasn’t planned from the get-go.

“The story unfolded as I wrote it,” Favreau detailed to the WGA. “The Mandalorian inherits a great deal from existing Star Wars stories, and when I write, that context is always a consideration. It became clear that, within the established continuity, certain things were likely to transpire.”

With the series being set between the events of the original trilogy and the sequel trilogy, audiences know what Luke’s fate was explored in the years after this appearance, but Favreau noted that he doesn’t feel at all pressured to lead towards specific events in the overall narrative, as he has a number of years of unexplored territory to cover.

“We have a tremendous amount of freedom afforded to us because of the gap in time between the films,” Favreau detailed. “[Writer/producer] Dave Filoni and I are in constant discussion regarding how each story choice is impacted by, and would impact, existing Star Wars material.”

Following the conclusion of the original trilogy of films, audiences’ first look at an older Luke Skywalker briefly came in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, though it was Star Wars: The Last Jedi that explored the ways in which Luke’s experiences had led to what he believed to be his downfall and detachment from the Force. While many audiences appreciated this interpretation of the character, others were disappointed that they didn’t get to see a Jedi at the height of his powers, which many believed they were given in Luke’s The Mandalorian appearance.

In the weeks since the episode debuted, even Mark Hamill has repeatedly taken to social media to express his appreciation of getting to explore Luke in this period of his life and how even he hadn’t realized how much it would mean to him.

The third season of The Mandalorian is expected to debut on Disney+ later this year.

Are you surprised that Luke’s appearance wasn’t planned from early on? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror.