On The Mandalorian, characters say “This is the way.” In the case of the second season’s big cameo though, it wasn’t originally.
By now Star Wars fans know that season two of The Mandalorian ended with Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) leaving Din Djarin with a Jedi he connected with through the Force. A Jedi by the name of Luke Skywalker. It was a thrilling moment for many fans, one that raised a ton of questions for Star Wars going ahead.
Usually, a reveal like that is something a show will build to after years of planning. In this case though, that’s not what happened. The idea came during the process, not before it.
“No,” Favreau said when asked by the WGA if bringing Luke back was always the plan. “The story unfolded as I wrote it. The Mandalorian inherits a great deal from existing Star Wars stories, and when I write, that context is always a consideration. It became clear that, within the established continuity, certain things were likely to transpire.”
Meaning, if Grogu was to be trained by a Jedi, the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy at that time was probably Luke Skywalker. And yet, bringing back the star of Star Wars was not an easy decision, especially because introducing him potentially impacts so many other stories.
“We have a tremendous amount of freedom afforded to us because of the gap in time between the films,” Favreau continued. “Dave Filoni and I are in constant discussion regarding how each story choice is impacted by, and would impact, existing Star Wars material.”
We’ve discussed this in depth before (read it here), but Favreau is right. While it’s true the comics, books, and games touch upon Luke’s story in this time period, and of course the movies tell the full story, there are still decades between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. Most of those stories take place closer to The Force Awakens (after Ben Solo has been born, for example) while The Mandalorian runs up closer to Return of the Jedi. So much can happen in between and, it seems, The Mandalorian will continue to explore more of that.
That’s really the only plot stuff Favreau discussed in the interview but he does a deep dive into his writing process, pitching the show, the excitement of writing Star Wars, and more; you can head over to the WGA site to read it. The Mandalorian season three is expected to debut sometime in 2022.