Sometimes, it’s hard to imagine our favorite characters being recast by different actors. It’s not always a frequent occurrence, but depending on a number of factors, sometimes the times just call for a character to be recast.
Age, of course, plays a huge factor in this if you want to see a younger version of a character on screen. And one of the first big examples we saw of this in Star Wars was in the prequels when Ewan McGregor assumed the role of young Obi-Wan Kenobi. Most recently, we’ve also seen this in the movie Solo: A Star Wars Story where both the roles of Han Solo and Lando Calrissian were recast with younger characters, played by Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover, respectively.
Though, there’s one in-demand actor who’s yet to play someone in the Star Wars universe who would absolutely be perfect for a role: Sebastian Stan. Many people know him as Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier, from his work in the MCU movies and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier TV series. But more than anything, many fans have been wondering if Sebastian Stan would ever play a young Luke Skywalker at some point because of just how uncanny they resemble one another.
In one deepfake video, a creator showed what Sebastian Stan would look like in scenes from Return of the Jedi — and the resemblance between Stan and Mark Hamill was astounding. So, will Lucasfilm ever bring Stan into the Star Wars universe to play Luke?
Is Sebastian Stan playing Luke Skywalker?
Unfortunately, as of now, it doesn’t look like Sebastian Stan will be brought on to play Luke Skywalker in the future. And the main reason for that is technology.
Back in the season 2 finale of The Mandalorian, it was actually Mark Hamill who played the young Luke Skywalker. And all the visual effects team had to do was apply some de-aging effects, and the job was done! The Mandalorian team even expressed that they had no one else in mind but Mark Hamill to return to play the character.
So, yes, the technology has gotten that good. But if you notice, these effects have only been used (in Star Wars) for characters with a small amount of time on screen. If they were looking to have something longer with young Luke Skywalker, it’s possible they may opt to go for someone like Sebastian Stan to fill the role — because we’re sure working with those de-aging effects can be time-consuming and expensive.
Sebastian Stan may not be playing Luke Skywalker anytime soon. But if there’s anything that Star Wars taught us, it’s to always have hope.