‘Star Wars’ Artist Provides Background On Luke Skywalker's Updated Look For Surprise Cameo
As Mando and his party of fighters prepared for an onslaught of Dark Troopers onboard the bridge of Gideon's flagship, fans waited with bated breath to see what would happen. Our heroes were cornered against an insurmountable force, but fortunately help was on the way. Answering Grogu's call from Tython, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker arrived on the Arquitens-class light cruiser, decimating the ranks of Dark Troopers, saving Mando's team, taking away the wee baby Grogu to complete his training, and leaving Star Wars fans weeping tears of joy.
Needless to say, every aspect of this scene has been examined and discussed among fans. From the CGI de-aging of Mark Hamill, to the very one-sided battle against the Imperial droids. In a recent interview with StarWars.com, Phil Szostak, creative art manager for Lucasfilm, spoke about a variety of Mandalorian related topics, including Luke's appearance in the Season 2 finale.
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Working from his home laptop during lockdown, Phil Szostak wrote a book detailing the behind-the-scenes art work that went into the making of The Mandalorian Season 2. The book, fittingly titled The Art of The Mandalorian (Season 2), details some of the best moments from the immensely popular show. This includes the new Tatooine town of Mos Pelgo, the Krayt dragon, and (Szostak's favorite image) Ahsoka Tano dueling the Magistrate.
Szostak spoke at length about the work that went into Luke Skywalker's role in the final, climactic moments of Season 2, specifically about how the art team tackled such an incredible moment, saying;
"No art that really clearly depicted Luke was actually created. And honestly, some artists were left completely in the dark up until the episode aired. It was really only a small group of us that knew all along. There was no mention of Luke in the script, either. It was all Plo Koon... And Plo Koon surviving makes a lot less sense than Luke, who we know is still around."
"For Luke, especially the aesthetic of his look is just about being faithful to what you know... It’s almost like an elevation or a sketch of your memory versus being exactly, precisely one-to-one with the last time we saw him in the timeline, which would have been, you know, 'Return of the Jedi.'"
We've heard how many crew members believed that Plo Koon would be the Jedi arriving to take on Grogu as his Padawan learner. This is evident by the concept art created, as the lightsaber hilt in several images resembles Plo Koon's weapon from The Clone Wars and the blue-bladed weapon is clearly not Luke's saber that he crafted on Tatooine in a Return of the Jedi deleted scene.
When pressed, many fans will admit that, in their hearts, they knew Luke was the only Jedi that made sense to answer Grogu's call. The fates of Ezra Bridger and Cal Kestis are still very much up in the air in the post-original trilogy era, and Ahsoka continues her self-imposed exile from the Jedi Order. Luke's appearance, in a blaze of glory, carving his way through Moff Gideon's super squad was a masterfully done bit of fan service, and Grogu leaving with the Jedi Master to complete his training was an emotional and impactful storytelling. There's no telling where The Mandalorian or these characters will go from here, but, as Star Wars fans, we're excited.
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Source(s): CBR.com, StarWars.com
