The Mandalorian: Mark Hamill holds Baby Yoda in promo for upcoming Disney+ special

Mark Hamill is Luke Skywalker in The Mandalorian season 2. Photo: Disney+.
Mark Hamill is Luke Skywalker in The Mandalorian season 2. Photo: Disney+.

This month, fans of The Mandalorian will learn more about how Star Wars actor Mark Hamill returned as Luke Skywalker in the show’s season 2 finale.

In December 2020, “Chapter 16” left fans ecstatic to see a long-time hero appear on the small screen. That, along with the announcement of The Book of Boba Fett following the episode’s credits, has given Twitter and Reddit plenty to talk about. Now we’re getting even more info than we thought we’d get about how it all went down.

Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian: Making of the Season 2 Finale will focus entirely on breaking down all the behind-the-scenes secrets from Chapter 16 of The Mandalorian. The season’s final episode ended with Luke Skywalker taking Grogu (Baby Yoda) away to train him to use his Force abilities.

See the Disney Plus teaser below and catch a glimpse at Hamill reprising his iconic role while holding little Grogu in his arms on the set of The Mandalorian.

To transform Hamill into a younger version of himself — his character needed to appear only five years older than he was in Return of the Jedi, which was released in 1983 — his face was recreated and de-aged digitally. The behind-the-scenes special will dive deeper into how this was done, and so much more.

It’s a miracle that Skywalker’s appearance wasn’t already common knowledge before the finale aired, since most everything else about the season had already gone public. Even series creator Jon Favreau was worried such a big secret couldn’t stay hidden. “We were so scared right up until aired that our surprise cameo was going to leak too,” he recalled on Good Morning America.

Hamill has a way of always finding his way back to Star Wars even when it seems his time has come to an end. Perhaps we’ll see him again, at least in some form or another.

What surprises await us in The Mandalorian season 3? We’ll just have to wait to find out. With bombshells like Baby Yoda in season 1 and Luke Skywalker at the end of season 2, this next installment has a lot to live up to. Disappointment is highly unlikely.

Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian: Making of the Season 2 Finale premieres August 25 on Disney+.