Luke Skywalker appeared in The Mandalorian season 2 finale to meet Grogu, which Mark Hamill himself compared to a younger Luke first encountering Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back. The Mandalorian is set 5 years after the events of Return of the Jedi, following a Mandalorian bounty hunter, Din Djarin, who is tasked with retrieving “The Child” for what’s left of the Imperial forces. Instead of returning The Child, Djarin protects him from the fallen Empire, figuring out how to return him to his species. Along the way, Djarin also discovers The Child, whose real name is Grogu, is Force-sensitive.
Up until The Mandalorian, the only prominent established character of the same species as Grogu was Yoda, who was first introduced in The Empire Strikes Back as an old Jedi Master. Because Grogu’s name wasn’t revealed until halfway through The Mandalorian season 2, his most common moniker has been Baby Yoda, a nickname the character still hasn’t been able to shake. Since The Mandalorian begins 5 years after Return of the Jedi, which is when Yoda died at about 900 years old, Grogu, at 50 years old, is the only known member of their species by the established Star Wars characters.
Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian for season 2 has so far released two episodes detailing a behind-the-scenes look at how the show’s second season and the installment’s finale were made. During the documentary, Mark Hamill recalls the emotional moment where he put on Luke’s dark robes again and decided he needed to meet the animatronic Grogu. Hamill likened his first meeting with Grogu as “déjà vu with Yoda,” comparing the realistic nature of Grogu to how personally real Yoda was for Hamill back in Empire Strikes Back. When watching The Mandorian’s episodes, Hamill justified his need to meet Grogu as Luke Skywalker by explaining, “[he] is the only one that has any experience with the species.”
During Empire Strikes Back, Luke is primarily separated from the action with Leia, Han, and Chewie, spending most of the movie in Dagobah with R2-D2 as he becomes trained as a Jedi by the exiled Master Yoda. Most of his dialogue within the Star Wars movie is talking to a Yoda puppet, which justifies his personal connection and heightened experience with the rare species. Aside from now Pedro Pascal, no other Star Wars actor had spent such intimate time with the Yoda species’ puppets as Hamill. In the Star Wars prequels where he still plays an integral part, Master Yoda is mostly animated through CGI, so there’s less of a personal, physical connection in which the actors had to suspend belief.
Hamill’s comparison also makes the long-held fan theory that Luke is taking Grogu to be taught at his Jedi Academy more likely, which would eventually make young Ben Solo one of his classmates. Within the documentary, Hamill explains that Luke’s The Mandalorian cameo is exploring his life “pre-Jedi Academy and post-Jedi,” which suggests that at this point in time, he still hasn’t returned to the Jedi Temple. The speculation on where Luke is taking Grogu now grows, which could mean Luke will become Grogu’s own private Yoda as he teaches him the ways of The Force. It’s likely that following The Mandalorian season 2 finale and Luke’s training with Grogu, he discovers more and more Force-sensitive younglings before beginning the Jedi Academy.