Season 2 of The Mandalorian was an Easter egg-filled extravaganza — one
that had many Star Wars fans leaping for joy. From the return of Boba
Fett to the live-action debut of Clone Wars favorites such as Bo-Katan and Ahsoka Tano,
the second season of The Mandalorian somehow cleared the high bar set by the first. But if
you ask many fans about the biggest surprise moment the second season had to offer,
they'll probably mention a certain cloaked Jedi who makes an appearance in the finale.
In "Chapter 16, The Rescue," the Mandalorian and his allies are pitted against a legion of
Dark Troopers, and all hope looks lost until a young Luke Skywalker arrives on the scene,
brings down the evil droids, and takes Grogu off for some special Jedi training.
It was easily the series' biggest moment thus far, with Skywalker's youthful appearance
coming down to some unique technology and a little collaboration with Mark
Hamill — the "Star Wars" legend who is also a self professed fan of the series.
"It's very much in the spirit of what George wanted originally, and I just thought it was
superb."
Still, although many fans loved this moment,
others were less impressed — mostly by the execution of Skywalker's de-aging process.
Either way, we're about to learn more about the technology that went into this cameo moment,
thanks to an upcoming Disney+ special centered around it.
Mandalorian fans may have already tuned into the documentary series Disney Gallery: The
Mandalorian, which offers a behind-the-scenes look at individual episodes of the show, and provides
crucial information about how each individual story — and the series as a whole — came to
life. Now that Season 2 has run its course, most fans assumed that The Mandalorian's Disney Gallery
series was unlikely to return until the main show's third season. Those same people might
be surprised to learn that the House of Mouse is bringing back its popular behind-the-scenes
docuseries well ahead of schedule, with a fresh episode set to hit Disney+ in August.
Disney+ will premiere their special episode of Disney Gallery on August 25th,
2021, which focuses on the return of Luke Skywalker in the Mandalorian Season 2 finale.
Among other things, the episode will reveal more about the type of technology used to resurrect
Luke in his classic Return of the Jedi look, as well as examine the collaborative process with
Mark Hamill that proved essential to making Luke's appearance as realistic as possible.
So, if you were one of the many Star Wars fans who got a little teary-eyed at the return of
everyone's favorite Jedi master, then this new episode of Disney Gallery will be right up your
alley. But what can we actually expect to learn from it? Well, aside from knowing that actor Max
Lloyd-Jones was responsible for the bodywork of young Luke, there's precious little anyone
does know about the technical and collaborative work that went into Luke's return. It's possible
to make a reasonable guess how it all worked, considering similar technology has been used
in previous Star Wars movies and elsewhere in Hollywood, but nothing is certain here;
outside of the production, nobody's even sure how much involvement Hamill even had in the process.
But while many fans will be thrilled to get some answers to those questions,
others might be less than thrilled to return to the Mandalorian Season 2 finale. Indeed,
while the moment of Luke's triumphant return garnered much praise from many,
some would have preferred that Disney recast the role instead of using de-aging technology.
Online Star Wars fans even had a consensus candidate to fill young Skywalker's Jedi boots:
MCU mainstay Sebastian Stan. Twitter user @djesson81 summed up the most emphatic
faction of the fandom's thoughts after the Mandalorian Season 2 finale aired, tweeting:
"Jesus Christ, just use Sebastian Stan for Luke
rather than this janky PS3 [cutscene] looking version we got!"
Of course, it'll be interesting to hear whether anybody ever considered recasting
Luke for his special appearance in The Mandalorian — or whether it was de-aging
tech all the way for Jon Favreau and company. Whether they did or not, though, we're bound
to know for certain when the newest episode of Disney Gallery hits Disney+ this August.
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