Grogu: Luke Skywalker’s first padawan?

Let’s discuss the relationship between Grogu and Luke Skywalker following their first meeting in The Mandalorian season 2 finale episode, “The Rescue.”

As many of you may know by now, the season finale of The Mandalorian showed the titular character, Din Djarin, finally completing his mission to reunite The Child with his own kind — the Jedi. During the course of their journey together, the bond between the Clan of Two had grown very close. In fact, one could say that Djarin was something of a father figure — despite Grogu actually being older than him.

Djarin’s first encounter with a Jedi on the planet Corvus led to disappointment as Ahsoka Tano (the former padawan of Anakin Skywalker)  wasn’t up to the task of training the Jedi youngling. Instead, she sent the Mandalorian to the planet Tython where she told him of a special seeing stone that could possibly lead the child to find another of their kind.

Grogu succeeded in activating the seeing stone that sent forth a force signal up into the nether of space but, unfortunately, the little guy was kidnapped by Moff Gideon’s Dark Troopers. This culminated into the rescue mission in the final episode where an X-Wing piloted/a mysterious cloaked stranger wielding a lightsaber showed up just in time to turn the tide of the battle.

This mysterious stranger turned out to be none other than Rebel Alliance legend Luke Skywalker. Following a heart-wrenching goodbye in which a tearful Din Djarin revealed his face to Grogu, the precious little youngling was carried away by his new master — along with the ever-faithful droid, R2-D2.

While the fate of Luke Skywalker’s Jedi training academy was revealed in the recent sequel trilogy, what specifically became of Grogu is unknown. He did after all survive Order 66, the Emperor’s betrayal that led to the near-extinction of the Jedi Order. Whether or not this becomes retconned in future Star Wars films is yet to be seen. But until then, there are other questions worth seeking answers to.

One of these is, where does Grogu fit into the Star Wars narrative? Specifically, was he Luke Skywalker’s first padawan? To answer this, we must first consider the timeline. “The Rescue” takes place approximately five years after the conclusion of the Galactic Civil Wars, in which the Empire was overthrown and the New Republic established.

Since Han Solo and Leia Organa weren’t yet engaged when the Empire was defeated, it’s possible that within this time frame they had been. However, Ben Solo was probably too young at this time to begin his training.

Likewise, Luke had most likely just started establishing the foundation for his new Jedi academy. While he could have begun traveling the galaxy looking for new emerging force sensitives, we also know that the Force itself was still in the midst of an awakening.

So, there is the possibility that Grogu (being a survivor of the great purge that nearly wiped out the Jedi) could be one of — if not the first padawan — that Luke discovers. Either way, it has a poetic full-circling for this character to be among Luke’s earliest students.

Besides the possibility itself, there is the cool factor of having one of Yoda’s species being Luke Skywalker’s initial recruits. While it was a really satisfying pairing to see the Mandalorian and a Jedi teamed-up together, it is perhaps even more satisfying for Grogu to join Luke Skywalker in his continuing adventures. Grogu may have formed an attachment to Din Djarin, but it doesn’t mean he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, form a similar one with Luke Skywalker. After all, the episode in which master and apprentice first meet one another shows that the little guy was willing to go with Luke despite his feelings towards the Mandalorian.

It’s also nice to see that Grogu’s narrative acts as a bridge between the Star Wars films and the stories told through Disney+’s expanded universe. Disney + has put forth a plethora of future Star Wars projects to follow its flagship show, The Mandalorian. It has also been said that Star Wars will follow the Marvel Cinematic universe model by using the narrative begun in The Mandalorian to connect these other projects.

It would be great if somewhere along the line, we could see a Jedi Academy series that has Luke traveling the galaxy gathering his new students and training them. Fans would love to see Grogu among these padawans and watch him mature — at least in his Force abilities. Instead of a de-aged Mark Hamill, this proposed series could have someone like the much-mentioned Sebastian Stan take over the role as Luke Skywalker.

And, instead of a disgraced Luke, fans could see the kind of Jedi master like the original Expanded Universe had shown us. Grogu as a padawan of Luke’s would be awesome to see. Especially if the youngling were put through some of the same, or similar, tests that Yoda put Luke through on Dagobah. Also, it would be interesting to see what challenges that Grogu, Luke, and the other padawans might face. One of those possible confrontations is one with the Emperor’s successor— Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Also, since Moff Gideon had succeeded in obtaining Grogu’s blood, there is also the possible outcome of this being shown. Is this where the mysterious Snoke comes into play, or, the Sith Troopers? Whatever was created, it would be worth revealing and setting up for Luke and his young padawan(s) to deal with.

What do you all think of Grogu being the padawan of Luke Skywalker? What would you all like to see happen with these two? Would you be interested in a follow-up series where we see Luke train Grogu and other padawans? Please feel free to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.