The Mandalorian season 2 finale brought back Luke Skywalker – but that wasn't always the plan, Jon Favreau has revealed.
When the WGA asked Favreau if Luke's return was planned from the beginning, he answered: "No. 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." (H/T io9)
As for whether the sequel trilogy means The Mandalorian's story is a bit boxed in, Favreau explained why that’s not the case. "We have a tremendous amount of freedom afforded to us because of the gap in time between the films," he said. "Dave Filoni and I are in constant discussion regarding how each story choice is impacted by, and would impact, existing Star Wars material."
Considering Filoni co-created the much-loved Ahsoka Tano, who doesn't appear in the movies, we definitely trust him and Favreau with crafting an excellent story for future Mandalorian instalments, and other spinoff shows like The Book of Boba Fett. Plus, it's true that there's a sizeable gap between The Mandalorian and the sequel films (see our The Mandalorian timeline).
It's also interesting to know that Luke's return wasn't planned from the start, considering Baby Yoda's Jedi powers were apparent from early in the series. Of course, Luke isn’t the only Force user around at this point in the Star Wars timeline – there's Ahsoka, who turned down training the Child, as well as Ezra Bridger, and Cal Kestis. Luke definitely got a very warm welcome back from the internet, though, so it seems safe to say Favreau made the right decision (and Mark Hamill made his joy at reprising the classic version of his iconic role known, too).
