A new interview with showrunner Dave Filoni reveals the decision process behind Luke Skywalker's cameo at the end of The Mandalorian season 2. Saving Din Djarin and his allies from the Imperial Remnant's Moff Gideon and his legion of Dark Troopers who'd captured Grogu, Luke Skywalker (a de-aged Mark Hamill himself) arrived in the finale episode to take the child to be trained as a Jedi. Now, Filoni reveals how he and Jon Favreau decided to bring back such an iconic figure.
Speaking in an interview with Empire Magazine, Filoni details his initial conversations with Favreau figuring out which Jedi would arrive to take Grogu for training. As such, it's revealed that a number of characters were in the running, most notably the Filoni-created Ahsoka Tano from Star Wars: The Clone Wars who survived the Jedi Purge and helped start the Rebel Alliance:
"It's a big question for me always: do we bring in any of these characters or not? And I was telling Jon that as much as I wanted to have Ahsoka in the show, she can't take this kid on. That's just not what I have planned. Then Jon was like, 'Who's it going to be? Who's gonna come and get him?' And we started logicing it out. If there's one person that would be great to train Grogu, it's Luke. It's a big decision for many reasons. Forgetting the technological aspect of it, which is, how do you execute that and bring it to life? It's this iconic character who's the centre of the whole thing from when we were kids, and if you want to bring that character in, you make sure that there's a good purpose behind it. And it's not just, "Look, here's Luke." But in this time period he is the Jedi, he is the one person carrying on the legacy of what it means to be a Jedi, and perhaps improving on or having a new perspective on what it means to be a Jedi, compared to the prequel Jedi. And so he's seeking out students, building a new Jedi Order. So Luke finding Grogu made the most sense."
Although Ahsoka did end up having a role in The Mandalorian, she is believed to be no longer a Jedi during this era of the Star Wars galaxy, having left the Jedi Order prior to the end of the Clone Wars. As such, the era itself helped informed Filoni and Favreau's decision to bring back Luke.
Luke Skywalker Was The Logical Choice To Take Grogu
While convenient retcons could have allowed there to be other Jedi survivors who saved Grogu, Luke makes the most sense during this era to take on a Padawan as young and powerful as Grogu. Following the Empire's end and the demise of Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine, Luke was the only one seeking to restart the Jedi Order as it had existed during the prequel trilogy, building a new temple and collecting ancient texts and Jedi artifacts. As Filoni points out, Luke was perhaps trying to improve upon what it once was as well.
Of course, this is all taking place before Luke's failures ahead of the sequel trilogy with his nephew Ben Solo which led to his new Order's destruction and Ben's seduction to the dark side, becoming Kylo Ren who served Supreme Leader Snoke and the led the forces of the First Order. Likewise, The Book of Boba Fett reveals Grogu ends up abandoning his training with Luke to reunite with Din Djarin instead. Regardless, there was no better choice than Luke during this period of the Star Wars continuity.
It's nice to see that there was careful consideration behind Luke Skywalker's involvement in The Mandalorian season 2, even before Filoni and Favreau started working with Lucasfilm on how to provide a believable de-aged Mark Hamill. The story and the meaningful nature of bringing such a central Star Wars character back was a core part of that process as they planned out the season finale. Now, The Mandalorian season 3 will begin streaming on March 1st, featuring the ongoing adventures of Din Djarin and Grogu who've been reunited.
Source: Empire Magazine