Featured Image Credit: Alamy/Disney+
Topics: Star Wars, Film and TV
Tom Sanders
It looks like Luke Skywalker is finally getting recast for his upcoming appearance in Disney Plus’ upcoming series Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the young actor set to portray him just got the thumbs up from the OG Luke himself.
Mark Hamill took to Twitter today to share a post about Grant Feely, the young actor who will play Luke in the upcoming series, tweeting his approval and writing: "Grant Feely looks like a perfect Luke Skywalker and I am wishing him all the very best! #TheForceIsWithFeely."
The trailer for the upcoming mini-series dropped last week, and while fans were understandably excited to see Ewan McGregor reprise his role as old Obi-Wan, it was the appearance of the young Skywalker that really stole the headlines.
Feely, whose only other acting credit is an episode of Creepshow, certainly has big shoes to fill, but with a co-sign like that it’s hard not to feel optimistic.
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Hamill has been famously protective of Luke Skywalker ever since he first portrayed him in the original Star Wars trilogy back in 1977, before making headlines when he decided to return to the role in the most recent sequel trilogy. He also subsequently portrayed the character in season two of The Mandalorian through the use of de-aging visual effects and a body double, before again making a surprise appearance this year in The Book of Boba Fett.
“Talk about unexpected,” Hamill told Jimmy Fallon last year about getting a second chance to play a younger Luke Skywalker. “I had finished playing that part, and I never expected to do it again. I figured if they ever tell stories of Luke in that period, post the originals and pre-sequels, they would get an age-appropriate actor.
“So when [series creator] Jon Favreau and [producer] Dave Filoni told me about what they wanted to do, I was just stunned.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi is set 10 years after events in 2005’s Revenge Of The Sith, and will reportedly focus on Obi-Wan’s efforts to lure Jedi-hunting Inquisitors away from Tatooine to protect Luke from falling into the Empire's hands.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, McGregor said: “Obi-Wan is lost. He’s a broken man after what happened with the Jedi order at the end of Episode III, but also what happened with Anakin; that he lost him to the dark side. He feels an enormous amount of responsibility for that, and guilt.”
Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy also recently revealed that the show’s original scripts were revamped in order to make a more 'uplifting' and 'hopeful' story.
“We’re looking, ultimately, to make a hopeful, uplifting story,” Kennedy said. “And it’s tricky when you’re starting with a character in the state that Obi-Wan would be in coming off of Revenge Of The Sith. That’s a pretty bleak period of time. You can’t just wave the magic wand with any writer and arrive at a story that necessarily reflects what you want to feel.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi will be released on May 25, 2022 exclusively on Disney+
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