Luke Skywalker DeepFake Artist Hired By Lucasfilm

What Could This Mean?

By Culture SlatePublished 3 years ago • 3 min read

The Star Wars sequel trilogy, released by Disney, has gone on to become one of the most controversial set of films ever to be released in Hollywood. Many fans were upset about how the story and the original characters were handled, whilst others applauded the decisions made. Regardless, Disney and Lucasfilm seem to be doing everything in their power to unite fans again with the work being put in to their TV shows.

The first two seasons of The Mandalorian were incredibly popular and seemed to breathe some fresh air into the franchise by focusing on some completely new characters, and the upcoming shows, such as The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ashoka, have definitely piqued the fandom's interest.

However, despite The Mandalorian's huge success and season two ending on a massive cliffhanger, some fans were unfortunately unhappy at the way a certain secret cameo was handled.

If you have not seen the finale of season 2, SPOILER WARNING is now in effect as what we are discussing today relates to the impressive twist.

As the episode is ending and our heroes seem to be trapped by a swarm of Dark Troopers, we see what looks like an X-Wing approaching. A hooded figure then ignites a green lightsaber and starts slashing their way through enemies, as well as using the Force, until they come face to face with Din Djarin and Grogu (Baby Yoda). The figure removes his hood and it turn out to be none other than Luke Skywalker himself coming to take Grogu away, potentially to train him.

Now, due to the fact the events of The Mandalorian take place around five years after Return of the Jedi, de-aging CGI was used to make Mark Hamill look younger than he is, but many were unhappy with the way it looked. When you watch the scene, there is something a little "off" about it and you can't help but notice. With this cameo sparking rumors of Luke showing up in season 3, and even some rumors suggesting a show focusing on Luke may be in the cards, many have wondered just how Disney and Lucasfilm would fix this issue. Thanks to recent reports, it seems we may have finally gotten our answer.

Not long after the series ended, one deepfake artist named Shamook created a video himself which was much more impressive than what we got, and fans loved it. The video itself went completely viral, and it looks like Disney noticed it, as Reddit user Gandamack has recently shared the news that Shamook has been hired by Lucasfilm as a Senior Facial Capture Artist, meaning he will likely take over the work of de-aging Luke, and possibly other characters. Shamook has also revealed the news himself in the comments section of one of his more recent uploads, which saw him replace Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne with Robert Pattinson in clips from The Dark Knight trilogy. About it, he wrote:

"As some of you may already know, I joined ILM/Lucasfilms a few months ago and haven't had the time to work on any new YouTube content. Now I've settled into my job, uploads should start increasing again. They'll still be slow, but hopefully not months apart."

Star Wars isn't the only thing for which Shamook maked deepfake videos, and his uploads are extremely popular, but considering his last upload was mid-March and he would usually release a couple each month, it's safe to assume this is around about the time Lucasfilm/Disney made contact with him.

It is unclear who contacted whom first, but the fact that Lucasfilm have taken him onboard shows that they are keen to act on fan reactions, which, with a fanbase as huge as Star Wars, can be quite a difficult task. With Shamook now onboard, however, many fans are excited to see what he can deliver, especially since his technological access will no doubt have been completely expanded and he's already built quite the following already.

You can check out his deepfake Luke Skywalker video below:

Until next time!

Written By Jordan McGlinchey

Source(s): The Direct, YouTube

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