After 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker most assumed Mark Hamill had hung up his lightsaber for good. The sequel trilogy saw him return as Luke Skywalker, and after his death in The Last Jedi, he materialized as a Force Ghost for one last goodbye. Or so we thought.
Hamill has since made a digital comeback in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, with ILM creating an uncanny deep faked replica of Luke. Despite the quality of the CGI, many fans have been calling for Lucasfilm to simply recast the role. Now they finally have as in Obi-Wan Kenobi Luke will be played by Grant Feely.
Feely will be playing the child Luke, who can be glimpsed in the trailer being watched from a distance by Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan. Hamill praised the casting, saying that Feely “looks like a perfect Luke Skywalker” and wished the young actor good luck:
It’s as yet unknown how big a role Feely will have in the upcoming series. Earlier this week we learned that the original plan for Obi-Wan Kenobi was for a ‘Lone Wolf and Cub’ style story in which the former Jedi General protects Luke as a baby from Darth Maul. Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau rightly argued that this set-up was too similar to Din Djarin and Grogu’s relationship on The Mandalorian so the show has been reworked to be more ambitious.
The trailer indicates that much of the action will take place away from Tatooine and as Luke stayed there throughout his childhood (as far as we know anyway) he won’t be along for the ride. This means Feely’s role may be minimal, though Star War fans would like to see the young Luke and Obi-Wan interacting at least a few times so as to set up the foundation of their relationship in the original trilogy.
Obi-Wan Kenobi will air on Disney Plus on May 25.