How 'The Mandalorian' And 'Andor' Have Saved The Legacy Of Three 'Star Wars' Actors

For many, The Mandalorian, the first live-action series in the Star Wars franchise, has been the savior of Disney's era at the helm of the Star Wars franchise. After the relatively poor reception to Disney's sequel trilogy, The Mandalorian, the brain-child of Iron Man Director Jon Favreau, and Dave Filoni, the main creative mind behind much of the growing library of animated Star Wars content, follows the tale of Mandalorian Bounty Hunter Din Djarin after he unexpectedly becomes the guardian of Grogu, a Force-Sensitive foundling.

The series was considered a much needed return to form by many Star Wars fans, and similar positive reaction to other Star Wars shows on Disney Plus, including Andor and the animated The Bad Batch, proves that the franchise has carved out a nice place for itself on the small screen. Aside from reviving Star Wars for many, The Mandalorian and Andor have also managed to restore and improve the legacy left on the franchise by a few special actors.

Let's take a look at their stories.

1. Mark Hamill

While he has made a name for himself in other projects, most notably as the definitive voice of The Joker in animation, Mark Hamill will always be best known as Luke Skywalker, the main protagonist of Star Wars' beloved Original Trilogy. So, fans were understandably excited when it was announced that Hamill, along with Carrie Fisher as Leia and Harrison Ford as Han Solo, would be reprising the role of Luke in Disney's sequel trilogy. Unfortunately, Luke's part in the trilogy proved underwhelming. The character was absent from the first film, The Force Awakens, for all but the final few minutes, and spends most of the second film, The Last Jedi, as a grumpy hermit, before suddenly dying in a confusing, nonsensical sacrifice during the film's final battle.

Fans were disappointed, and while Hamill played his part and didn't complain much around thetime of The Last Jedi's initial release, more recently he has been vocal with his own displeasure at where his iconic character ended up, expressing his belief that the sequels' characterisation of Luke didn't fit with that of the Original Trilogy. Sadly, with Star Wars episodes I through IX being retroactively dubbed 'The Skywalker Saga', it seemed Disney were planning to move away from the Skywalker's in the future, and the sequels would mark the last we were going to see of Luke, and Mark Hamill, in the franchise.

Enter The Mandalorian. Most of season two centres on Din Djarin's quest to return Grogu to his own kind, the Jedi. The obvious problem with this, of course, is that most of the Jedi were killed in Order 66 in the prequel era. However, thanks to a message sent through the Force by Grogu a few episodes earlier, one of the few remaining Jedi arrives to save the day in the season finale: The one and only Luke Skywalker. In an epic scene reminiscent of Darth Vader's rampages, Luke strikes down swaths of Death Troopers to reach and rescue Grogu and Din. The sequence was created by merging footage of Hamill with another younger actor, Max Lloyd-Jones.

While this scene takes place decades before the sequels and thus does not actually change Luke's canon ending, it still allowed Hamill the chance to play the best version of the character again, and he has often expressed gratitude to The Mandalorian's creators Favreau and Filoni for the opportunity.

2. Andy Serkis

Both Darth Vader and the scheming Emperor Palpatine are among the most iconic villains in sci-fi history, so whoever succeded them in the Star Wars sequel trilogy was always going to have a tough act to follow. While Kylo Ren was quickly dismissed by many as a bargain bin version of Darth Vader, there was significant interest surrounding the mysterious head of the First Order, Supreme Leader Snoke. Snoke was portrayed by Andy Serkis, a veteran of Motion Capture performance.

Many theories floated about regarding the origins of Snoke, the most popular that he was a revived Darth Plagueis, Palpatine's Master. However, like Luke, Snoke is killed without much fanfare in the final act of The Last Jedi. The reveal in the final film, The Rise of Skywalker, that Snoke was a genetically modified being created to serve as a puppet ruler for Palpatine's lingering spirit only served to make the character's whole arc seemed rather pointless.

Thankfully, seeing as Snoke was a motion-capture character heavy on CGI, it was easy for Serkis to return in a more traditional way as a different character. In episodes eight, nine, and ten of Andor, Serkis plays Kino Loy, a Prisoner and Floor Manager encountered by Cassian Andor when he finds himself imprisoned on Narkina 5, in a facility surrounded by water. Kino is at first a stickler for the rules, believing that complying without fuss will bode well for his eventual release. However, upon the discovery that no-one is ever actually released, and that Prisoners are either killed or relocated to another Imperial Prison at the 'end' of their sentence, Kino agrees to join Cassian in a risky escape plan.

Kino plays a pivotal role in the escape, inspiring the prisoners to revolt and overrun their guards, exploiting the single way out of the Prison and embarking on a mass swim for freedom. However, in a tragic twist, Kino reveals that he is unable to swim, and Cassian is forced to leave him behind. For many fans, Serkis's three episode arc as Kino is more memorable and worthwhile than the entire sequel trilogy.

3. Ahmed Best

In 1997, actor Ahmed Best was cast as a new character, the exiled Gungan Jar Jar Binks in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, performing the voice, and some limited early Motion Capture for the character. Jar Jar was included as comic relief, with hopes that the character would appeal to the new, young fans coming to Star Wars for the first time. Instead, the character was savaged by fans and critics, with some even declaring him a racist stereotype, leading to Jar Jar's drastically reduced presence in the remainder of the prequel trilogy.

Unfortunately, the fan reception to Jar Jar escalated to online bullying of Best. It was a tough time for the actor, who had put a lot of effort into his performance, only to have the joy of the experience entirely ruined. In a heartbreaking video, Best reveals that he was almost driven to suicide. Thankfully, the actor got the support he needed to pull himself back from the brink, and most of the fandom has denounced his earlier toxic treatment.

In 2020, Best hosted the Youtube children's game show Jedi Temple Challenge, hosting in-character as a new Jedi Master, Kelleran Beq. At the time, this was seen as a fun Easter Egg, and the franchise's way of apologising to Best. However, in an unexpected twist that delighted fans, Kelleran Beq entered the canon Star Wars universe in 'The Foundling', the fourth episode of The Mandalorian's third season. In an immediately iconic flashback sequence, it is revealed that Beq was was the one to rescue Grogu during Order 66.

Despite the reveal scuppering many fan theories regarding Grogu's rescuer, the appearance was, for the most part, met with joy from the fandom. Whatever happens next for the character, Kelleran Beq will now always be the Jedi who saved Grogu. This gives him a special place in Star Wars history, and no one will ever be able to take that away from his actor, Ahmed Best.

May the Force be with him!