In December, an hour-long look at the making of The Mandalorian season two was released, following up on the fantastic Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian series that had accompanied season one.
The special looked at a variety of aspects of the making of season two, including the live-action debuts of Bo-Katan Kryze and Ahsoka Tano, as well as the return of Boba Fett! But entirely absent was any mention of the climax of the season two finale, which saw the heroic return of Luke Skywalker, in his prime, to rescue Grogu and the team.
That’s more than understandable, given the immense secrecy behind the reveal and the fact that the showrunners were able to basically keep it entirely under wraps before the episode dropped – an incredible rarity today. With the behind-the-scenes special airing right after the conclusion of the season, to include anything about Luke’s appearance would have been too risky and would have surely led to spoilers leaking out.
But don’t worry: we’re going to get to see the return of Luke in focus, because it was announced today that there will be a special episode of Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian coming on August 25 to look specifically at the return of Luke Skywalker in the season two premiere!
Here’s the way it is described by StarWars.com:
“Making of the Season 2 Finale” is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of this celebrated “chapter” of The Mandalorian, with a focus on the technology used for recreating Luke Skywalker. It delves into the collaborative process, including working with Mark Hamill, to create an authentic and fitting recreation, and explores the immense pressure and responsibility the filmmakers had in bringing back one of the most important characters in film history.
I’m extremely excited for this. We knew all along that Mark Hamill had returned to play Luke, but how did it all happen? How did they make Luke appear like he did in Return of the Jedi? Those are things we haven’t really learned yet, and this behind-the-scenes special promises to give us the inside look of how they made it happen.
So yeah, I think this is awesome! But less awesome will be the myriad of hot takes and reactions that happen amongst Star Wars fans on August 25, weighing in with any number of opinions on Luke’s look here and comparisons between Luke here and in The Last Jedi, and stuff like that. (It’s hard to just enjoy things nowadays, isn’t it?) So it might be a good day to stay off of social media some, but to sit back and enjoy seeing Mark Hamill play the character of Luke Skywalker in a Star Wars live action project one more time!
I wasn’t expecting this announcement, but I’m thrilled by it. It’s certainly a welcome surprise!
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