How The Mandalorian Re-Used Star Wars’ Best Secret Actor Tradition

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Disney+’s The Mandalorian season 2 finale continues an actor tradition that first began with Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy. Before Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu were reunited in The Book of Boba Fett’s final episode “Chapter 7,” season 2 of The Mandalorian ended with their heart-wrenching separation and the stunning reveal that the mysterious Jedi who came to their rescue onboard Moff Gideon’s cruiser is none other than a young post-Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker intent on training the child at his Jedi academy. From the initial idea to execution, Disney Gallery’s the making-of episode for “Chapter 16: The Rescue” shows that the Luke Skywalker scene took lots of planning and subterfuge to pull off in absolute secrecy.

Utilizing digital de-aging techniques and a body double, The Mandalorian was able to recreate Mark Hamill as young Luke. With the added complication of social media to consider, show-runner Jon Favreau, executive producer Dave Filoni, and director Peyton Reed went to extremes to ensure that the Luke Skywalker secret wouldn’t be leaked to the public. Some of those safeguards included adding misinformation into the script and creating fake concept art of Plo Koon, a Jedi Master from the Republic Era. While it was previously believed that the entire cast of The Mandalorian was left in the dark about Luke's return, Pedro Pascal claims he knew about the secret ahead of time.

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While promoting the film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Pascal gave an interview (via Vanity Fair) the interviewer asked if it was true that Pascal didn’t know that Luke Skywalker was going to be in The