Katee Sackhoff Didn't Know That Luke Skywalker Was In 'The Mandalorian' Until It Aired

When Din Djarin put Grogu on the seeing stone in the ancient temple on Tython and The Child started his Force Zoom call, we all knew that we would eventually get to see the person on the receiving end of this communication. But what we didn’t know at this time was whom it would be. Some hoped for a live-action debut of Ezra Bridger. (We will probably have to wait for this a little longer.). Others thought that it would be Cal Kestis from the Jedi: Fallen Order video game. Some even imagined that Mace Windu would show up, having miraculously survived his fall from Palpatine’s office.

In the end, it was the most probable, but also quite fitting option: Luke Skywalker.

But when shooting this scene, the person who lifted his hood after slicing through dozens of Dark Troopers as if they were just stupid Separatist B1 battle droids of course wasn’t a 28-year-old Luke Skywalker, but Max Lloyd-Jones, a 29-year-old British actor; the voice that the others heard was not that of Mark Hamill. Both would be added later in post-production.

On Schmoedown Entertainment Network's Sith Council, Katee Sackhoff, who played Bo-Katan in season 2 of The Mandalorian, said she didn’t know who the Jedi that had arrived on Moff Gideon’s frigate in his X-wing was until she saw the finished episode:

“I didn't know until I saw it with you guys. I didn't know! They didn't tell us [who it was]. There was an actor there with dots on his face. I mean, [I] kind of [put it together], but at the same time I thought to myself, 'They would've let us know that.'”

So obliviously the script didn’t give the identity of Grogu’s new keeper/teacher away (probably just saying “The Jedi”), and the production crew, according to Sackhoff, even told the other actors a false name for the Jedi.

So, Dave Filoni, Jon Favreau, and Mark Hamill were actually able to keep Luke’s cameo in The Mandalorian a secret for roughly one year, which is quite an achievement at a time when basically the whole story of The Force Awakens had leaked out months before the movie hit the big screen. This shows not only the commitment of the two showrunners to their creation, but also of the whole team, working on the project. Sackhoff (or another actor) could have mentioned an assumption about who was standing there in front of them in the black robe, as could have the people at ILM, who were tasked with putting Hamill’s CGI face over that of Lloyd-Jones, or one of the people at Skywalker sound, who modeled Hamill’s voice so that it sounded more like the Return of The Jedi Luke than that of The Rise of Skywalker. But no one had loose lips, and so the identity of the Jedi was kept a secret until "Chapter 16" of The Mandalorian actually aired.

Mark Hamill himself was quite astonished (and obviously proud) that no rumors of the return of his younger alter-ego had leaked out:

Of course, Hamill is no stranger to keeping important secrets like that. When the scene involving Darth Vader telling Luke that he is his father was shot in 1979 for The Empire Strikes Back, only Hamill, director Irvin Kershner, and George Lucas knew the line that Vader would say to a beaten Luke Skywalker. David Prowse, who just recently passed away and wore the black suit, did not know, as the line he was given in the script was, “Obi-Wan killed your father.” Which could be true...from a certain point of view.

Only later in the production was this line re-dubbed to the famous “No, I am your father,” by James Earl Jones.

But of course, all this was a long time before the internet.

Written By Gerald Petschk

Source(s): The Direct

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