The Mandalorian: Mark Hamill Praises Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni for "Gift" of Luke Skywalker's Return

Star Wars fans were given a major surprise with the return of Luke Skywalker in the Season 2 [...]

By Joe Schmidt

Star Wars fans were given a major surprise with the return of Luke Skywalker in the Season 2 finale of The Mandalorian, with Mark Hamill lending his likeness and voice to the Jedi Knight. Using Lucasfilm's age-defying technology that's been used in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Hamill once again portrayed Luke in an epic scene in the episode titled "Chapter 16: The Rescue." And while his story wrapped up in the sequel trilogy from filmmakers Rian Johnson and J.J. Abrams, Hamill thanked The Mandalorian showrunners Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni for the opportunity to return.

Hamill, who expressed some reservations with Luke's role in the sequel trilogy, praised Favreau and Filoni. In his return to The Mandalorian, the actor was able to fulfill a Star Wars goal as Luke Skywalker.

The surprise of Luke Skywalker's return was massive for Star Wars fans, and Favreau feared the spoiler would be leaked before the episode aired. The producer and director recently spoke with Good Morning America about bringing Hamill back for the finale and what it means for the franchise.

"It was very tricky because it's very hard to keep a secret nowadays, especially with Star Wars, because people are so curious about it," said Favreau. "There are so many people involved with the process, with visual effects finishing, making it, filming it, the studios, everything."

Favreau went on to explain that every casting notice leaked in advance, referring to Rosario Dawson's role as Ahsoka Tano and Katee Sackhoff's return as Bo-Katan Kryze. Fortunately, they still managed to keep some surprises for The Mandalorian Season 2.

"We were so scared right up until it aired that our surprise cameo was going to leak too ... But we started off the whole series with the Baby Yoda reveal, with the Grogu reveal, that was a secret that everybody was really blown away by," Favreau said. "Part of that is not telling too many people, not having merchandise that's being tooled up and announced and that kind of thing."

Many fans still have tons of questions about Luke's role during this era of the Star Wars timeline. Hopefully we learn more when Star Wars: The Mandalorian Season 3 returns sometime in 2022.

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