The Mandalorian: Is Luke Skywalker the Jedi Who Will Find Grogu?
Fan casts have been imagining Sebastian Stan as a post-Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker for years. Could it finally happen on The Mandalorian?
This Star Wars: The Mandalorian article contains spoilers.
When Din Djarin first met Grogu, he probably knew less about Star Wars than anyone reading this article. The Jedi were a mystery to him, known to the Mandalorians only as ancient sorcerer enemies. But as we know — and as Din has finally learned — Grogu has deep ties to the Jedi.
After Ahsoka Tano reveals Grogu’s past as a Jedi youngling who was forced to go into hiding during Order 66, she sends the duo to the planet Tython, the birthplace of the Jedi Order, so that Grogu may use the Force to reach out to another Jedi to train him. Ahsoka doesn’t say who might answer the call, but does allude to the fact that there are very few Jedi left in the galaxy five years after Return of the Jedi.
In fact, we know of only one other living Jedi during the time period of The Mandalorian: Luke Skywalker. But where exactly is Luke during The Mandalorian? And what if he’s the Jedi meant to find Grogu?
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Since Disney rebooted the Star Wars timeline, we know little about Luke’s adventures after Return of the Jedi. But a few brief appearances in the comics, movies, and books confirm he’s out there during the time of The Mandalorian, learning more about the Jedi and preparing to start his own academy. The Luke of this era of galactic rebuilding is more optimistic about the Jedi ways than the aging legend we met in The Last Jedi.
Luke traveled around the galaxy to find Jedi relics from which he could piece together what the old order had been like. He started his quest not long after the Battle of Endor, first going to the planet Pillio in Battlefront II to uncover the Jedi star compass that would one day lead him to Ahch-To, the planet where Luke eventually exiled himself. In the comic book miniseries Shattered Empire, which takes place just three months after Endor, Luke traveled to the planet Vetine with ace Rebel pilot Shara Bey (Poe Dameron’s mother) to recover the Force tree that once stood in the grounds of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant before the Empire took over. As revealed in The Rise of Skywalker, Luke also trained Leia in the ways of the Jedi during this time.
Luke eventually disappeared from galactic affairs altogether in order to search for the sacred Jedi texts and other secrets of the Force with Lor San Tekka, the explorer and Jedi devotee who would remain an ally to Luke until his death in The Force Awakens almost three decades later. This era of Luke’s life is broadly explored in resource books for The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, as well as briefly dramatized in the comic book miniseries The Rise of Kylo Ren, which covers events from 14 years after Return of the Jedi all the way to right before The Force Awakens.
After learning much more about both the light side and dark side of the Force, including pieces of Sith history he discovered on their ancient home planet of Moraband, Luke decided he was ready to build a new temple for a new generation of students. In 15 ABY (After the Battle of Yavin), 7 years after The Mandalorian, Luke took his nephew Ben Solo as his first apprentice before recruiting other Jedi hopefuls. If you’ve watched the Sequel Trilogy, you know the rest.
The point is that, since The Mandalorian takes place in 9 ABY, Luke is still on his quest for Jedi knowledge at that point. It would make sense that Luke would be on the lookout for Force signals like the one Grogu sends from the seeing stone on Tython, a planet so full of Jedi history that it’d likely be one of Luke’s stops during his quest anyway. He’s been searching for ruins and records, but to find a living Jedi would be even better.
Although Grogu did live at the Jedi Temple of old, he seems too young to be able to tell anyone much about that experience. But Luke could still learn from Grogu as much as the little guy could learn from him. The baby would represent for Luke a future for the Jedi in which the light side has a firm foothold in the galaxy. The problem with their potential meeting is that we know that future doesn’t come to pass, or at least not as soon as Luke expects. Star Wars storytellers are good at coming up with reasons why different tales don’t contradict one another, but it would be a major task to explain why Luke and Grogu met and then were separated by the time of the Sequel Trilogy. But these are exactly the kind of shenanigans that make for fun Star Wars stories.
There’s no doubt that The Mandalorian presents a very interesting opportunity to bring in Luke at a point in his life which we’ve never seen on screen, and it’s no secret fans have spent years imagining Marvel actor Sebastian Stan as a replacement for Mark Hamill as a younger Luke, but there are other things to consider. Would a Luke appearance in The Mandalorian prove too distracting? Would it make people care less about Din and Grogu knowing a legacy character like Luke now exists in the universe of the show?
Most importantly, Din and Grogu’s connection is the heart of this show. Would Luke really take Grogu away to train him, breaking up the duo that’s made the series so successful in the first place? The answer to that question is almost certainly a resounding no. But it’s fun to speculate.
Keep up with all of The Mandalorian season 2 news here.
Written by
Megan Crouse writes for Star Wars Insider and Star Wars.com and is a co-host on Den of Geek's Star Wars podcast, Blaster Canon. Twitter: @blogfullofwords