You’re watching the episode, the team are completely boxed into the bridge with seemingly no way out. Possibly around 30+ Dark Troopers are boarding Moff Gideon’s Light Cruised. It’s intense as is without Bo-Katan and Din Djarin ready to face off for the Darksaber.
We kind of knew there was an extremely high chance we would see an additional Jedi to Ahsoka Tano from Chapter 13’s The Jedi. It was about to happen.
All goes silent for a second and an X-Wing flies past the bridge windows, and lands with most of the crew watching on through the cameras. The tone of the background music changes, shivers start to crawl everywhere.
We see a cloaked figure walkthrough, next scene we see it through the camera of this Jedi destroying the Dark Troopers with ease. Then we see the green saber, and then we see the gloved hand. At this point we know it’s Luke.
After Luke goes full Rogue One Darth Vader, Din Djarin opens the doors to the bridge and is greeted by Luke. We then see an emotional goodbye between Din and Grogu as Grogu leaves with Luke to seemingly be trained in the ways of the force.
This was a much younger Luke and a familiar face from the originals trilogy. The actor was actually Max Lloyd-Jones, with Luke Hamill also credited to the character.
I have seen the odd few comments slating the CGI instead of just enjoying the moment with Luke. For me, it never looked too bad, however, the last thing on my mind was the CGI because I was too focused on what the hell just happened.
I’ve watched the episode 2 more times since, and I understand the CGI isn’t perfect but does it need to be? We just got Luke Skywalker in a show that has thrown so many incredible things our way?
I understand Sebastian Stan is the man for the role if Luke is to become a prominent member of the show, but for now, this was perfect. It was needed.
Din is pretty much up against the remnants of the Empire at this point, it’s clearly obvious Luke would know, especially considering Din is running around with a force-sensitive being that also embodies one of the most gifted Jedi of all time in Yoda. Luke knows, so in turn, it makes sense.
This wasn’t done for a fan service, shock value (even if it did shock me to my core) or even for the hell of it. It was done because it made sense. Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau have done wonders with the show so I fully trust them to make the creative decisions, more so the decisions so far that have made the show as popular as it is.
We’re all familiar with the time period of The Mandalorian, and if he’s travelling to as many places as Din Djarin is, he’s going to come across lightsaber-wielding Jedi’s. It just all makes sense, and Luke Skywalker showing up made even more sense as I mentioned above.
Whenever I watch a finale for any show, especially a comic book show, the finale is largely expected to be surprising, explosive and, well, unexpected too. That’s what makes the finales so special. You wait for this entire build-up to see it all pay off in the final episode, The Mandalorian did no different.
We’ve had Legends stories turned to canon during this season which is just straight-up amazing for most hardcore fans of Star Wars.
Whether it’s Lloyd-Jones + Mark Hamill, whether it’s Sebastian Stan or another actor, I just want to see Luke more now going forward. Especially now that Din owns the darksaber.
The only other Jedi I’m desperate to see show up in season 3 is Cal Kestis, played by Cameron Monaghan in the popular video game, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
