Star Wars legend Mark Hamill has praised The Mandalorian producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni for pulling off that explosive finale and bringing back a beloved figure from the franchise.
For years, fans of the galaxy far, far away have criticized the House of Mouse for their handling of the legacy characters, including the Last Jedi himself, Luke Skywalker. Indeed, while Rian Johnson’s middle act in the Sequel Trilogy garnered backlash for a number of different reasons, it’s safe to say that a lot of people had issues with how the director approached Luke’s characterization and narrative. And in fairness, many diehard enthusiasts had waited for years to see the Jedi Master in action after the events of the Original Trilogy, but what they got instead was basically their childhood hero going through something of a midlife crisis.
As such, even the sequels’ most vocal haters rejoiced when Luke made a comeback during the season 2 finale of The Mandalorian and gave them exactly what they were hoping for ever since Disney bought the franchise back in 2012. Now, Mark Hamill, who often clashed with Johnson over his vision of Luke, has taken to his Twitter account to praise Favreau and Filoni for the “gift” of the young Skywalker’s return, writing:
Sometimes the greatest gifts are the most unexpected and something you never realized you wanted until it was given.#ThankYouJonAndDave 🙏 pic.twitter.com/4nNjSvbvIN
— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) December 30, 2020
Granted, the CGI de-aging was a bit rocky, especially when capturing the character’s lip movements. But the fight sequence, which has since been compared to Darth Vader’s epic hallway massacre in Rogue One, was everything we had come to expect of the Last Jedi and more.
Currently, the rumor mill seems to suggest that Luke will be back for future seasons of The Mandalorian, if not in his own spinoff series. So, here’s hoping that we see more of the character, chronologically speaking, before the tragic events of the Sequel Trilogy come around.