When Mark Hamill was confirmed to be returning alongside fellow legacy players Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher for the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, fans were ecstatic at seeing the original trio back together again. However, it would be an understatement to say that Luke’s character arc wasn’t received too well by many, and even Hamill voiced his disappointment at how the return of the legendary Jedi was handled.
The 69 year-old took second billing behind Ford in The Force Awakens despite only appearing for a few seconds at the very end of the movie, before playing a much more substantial role in The Last Jedi. A lot of fans were furious, though, at how Rian Johnson depicted Luke as a bitter old man who had turned his back on everything that defined him, one who had no interest in either Rey or the fate of the Order itself.
The Rise of Skywalker attempted to right many of those wrongs, and was generally one big retcon, and a new rumor claims that Luke’s surprise cameo in The Mandalorian‘s season 2 finale is far from the last we’ll see of him. In fact, Disney and Lucasfilm apparently want to restore the character to former glories.
“They need Luke Skywalker to be back, redeemed, and the Jedi master fans want him to be. Toy manufacturers need Luke Skywalker back. Marketing needs Luke Skywalker back. Game developers need Luke back.”
There’s been plenty of speculation about Luke remaining part of the Star Wars universe following his shock return, but the report goes on to make a few wild statements about how the Disney Plus universe plans to fill in some of the narrative gaps between The Mandalorian and The Force Awakens, though this should all be taken with a pretty hefty grain of salt.
“In the Sequel Trilogy, it will be retconned so that Luke’s actions of being in hiding, pretending to hate the Jedi, etc., are all an act to protect Grogu from being found by the Dark Side, including protecting him from Rey. Luke couldn’t bring himself to burn the books that he believed would place Grogu in danger even though he knew it must be done, so Yoda in Force Ghost form had to do it for him.”
“Grogu is a new type of Jedi that unites Dark and Light with Anakin and Luke both training him somehow. Anakin will [also] be retconned to actually have brought balance to the Force, etc.”
Of course, any previous tales of the Sequel Trilogy being so heavily retconned have tended to come from very unreliable sources, but based on the reaction to his recent cameo, Lucasfilm no doubt already have plans in mind for further Luke Skywalker appearances.
