There are literally infinite stories to tell in the Star Wars universe, but on the big screen at least, the franchise has been more than happy to keep returning to the same well over and over again at the expense of originality and creativity. The Rise of Skywalker was viewed by many as a feature-length apology for The Last Jedi, and as a result was packed full of fan service and callbacks to the Original Trilogy.
While The Mandalorian has shown that Star Wars can acknowledge the past without relying too heavily on it, that hasn’t stopped rumors from making the rounds that a lot of the future movies will be based around characters, events and locations that audiences have already seen countless times before.
We previously heard that Lucasfilm were interested in a Luke Skywalker spinoff that focused on a younger version of the character, while other reports have claimed that Disney were considering the idea as part of wholesale changes that could be made to Star Wars canon. Now, the latest speculation surrounding Hamill’s potential return to a galaxy far, far away indicates that the next time we see Luke, he could be a fully CGI creation.
As per a report from Disney insider WDW Pro, the studio are keen to further develop the photo-realistic technology they used to great success on The Jungle Book and The Lion King and apply it to human characters, taking the de-aging technique one step further by creating entirely digital characters in a fully-animated movie that would convincingly pass as live-action.
Disney will reportedly test the technology as part of their theme park attractions before taking it to the big screen, with both Indiana Jones and Luke Skywalker set to be the main test subjects. Mark Hamill seemed to make it clear that his time as part of Star Wars was over, but the promise of a truckload of cash and the easier and lighter schedule that would come with throwing on a motion capture suit and letting the effects team do the rest would no doubt be enough to convince a lot of people to go back on their word.
