The Last Jedi’s Luke Skywalker Is So Much Better Than The Mandalorian’s (No Matter How Cool It Looks)
While many would agree that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is the worst Star Wars sequel trilogy movie, as well as one of the worst Star Wars movies overall, its predecessor, Star Wars: The Last Jedi also gets considerable hate. Particularly because of its character choices, The Last Jedi lost many audiences members who had still been on board (if a little wary) following Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Among the most controversial choices was Luke Skywalker‘s story arc, which revealed that he had lost his Jedi Temple in an attack by Kylo Ren and exiled himself on Ahch-To.
It’s confusing that The Last Jedi takes the heat for this grievance, as The Force Awakens had set up that Luke left the fight and lost hope, but there’s no doubt that viewers hated actually seeing Luke as a radically different version of himself, no longer the valiant hero full of hope, but rather a grumpy, hermit-like old man who had lost faith in the Jedi and the galaxy. While there are absolutely valid criticisms to be made, though, a tough Star Wars truth is that The Last Jedi’s Luke is actually better than the versions we’ve gotten since.
The Last Jedi Is Hated Because of Luke’s Story
Although Luke’s storyline isn’t the only aspect of The Last Jedi that audiences took issue with, it was among the most controversial. Many had expected to see a version of Luke that was closer to the (Legends) books, wherein he became a great leader of the Jedi in the new, post-Imperial galaxy. Granted, even in those stories, his arc was far from perfect or without major letdowns, but to see him entirely broken down for his big screen return was very disappointing.
Perhaps worse still, the end of The Last Jedi saw the death of Luke Skywalker, and although he himself said that no one’s ever really gone, and he did come back as a Force Ghost in The Rise of Skywalker, it meant that the version of Luke that fans had hoped to see in the sequel trilogy could never truly be, at least not in canon.
Unexpectedly, Star Wars did bring Luke back after that and give a bit more of a peek into what Luke the hero and leader of a Jedi Temple looked like in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. However—and no matter how controversial it is to say—those appearances weren’t an improvement on his role in The Last Jedi. In fact, of the various versions of Luke we’ve seen on screen since the original trilogy, The Last Jedi is actually the best.
Luke Didn’t Have Interesting Roles in The Mandalorian or The Book of Boba Fett
When Luke Skywalker had a cameo in The Mandalorian season 2 finale, it led to widespread fanfare. Through some de-aging technology and other tricks of the trade, The Mandalorian brought back a version of Luke that was much closer to how he looked in Return of the Jedi, but he was also showing off a higher skill level and control of the Force than he had even by the end of that movie. It’s understandable that, especially because this cameo was completely unexpected, it was massively celebrated by fans.
His return in The Book of Boba Fett was less popular, in part because, unfortunately, this is largely seen as one of Star Wars’ worst TV shows, if not the single worst overall. Even so, he had considerably more screen time in that show, even training Grogu in certain scenes, repeating some of the moments from his own training with Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back. With all of those points taken into consideration, it should seem like a no-brainer that either of the two more recent projects was a better Luke story than The Last Jedi.
Yet, there was a major flaw with both The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett in terms of Luke’s role: He didn’t feel like a fully fleshed-out character. In The Mandalorian, he obviously had a very brief appearance, and it certainly felt like fan service, even if it was very cool. In The Book of Boba Fett, Luke had a more significant role, but he felt fairly hollow. In part, this is because, rather than recasting, the show opted for de-aging, which resulted in a bit of an uncanny valley effect.
In addition to that, Luke no longer felt dynamic in that show. He felt like a flat, one-note Jedi Master who lacked Luke’s unique personality. In fact, even when Ahsoka Tells him he’s so much like his father, Luke has basically no reaction—far from what audiences would expect. In light of that, and despite how divisive the depiction was, The Last Jedi really did offer audiences a more interesting version of Luke. In the end, though, none of the three really gave viewers (or Luke/Hamill) what they deserved.
Truthfully, All 3 Projects Failed Mark Hamill’s Luke
Ultimately, even with The Last Jedi proving to be the most interesting of the three, that movie, The Mandalorian, and The Book of Boba Fett had the same Luke issue. Namely, none of these projects provided the epic Luke Skywalker story that the character, the actor, and audiences deserved. The Star Wars sequel trilogy remains most guilty, honestly, because they had Mark Hamill fully back as Luke and very little limiting them in terms of what was possible story-wise. They could have revealed a complicated but still more heroic Luke.
The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett also failed because they limited themselves in terms of what they could do with Luke by refusing to recast. That led to the stiff, flat version of Luke in The Book of Boba Fett and, presumably, kept The Mandalorian from doing more with the character. When comparing the three stories directly, however, The Last Jedi does come out on top.
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