Midway through the second season of The Mandalorian, after Grogu sat atop an ancient temple and tapped into the Force to reach out to all the remaining Jedi in the galaxy to see if any of them would be interested in training him, there was a widespread discussion among the Star Wars fan base about who would answer the call.
The season finale, “Chapter 16: The Rescue,” revealed which Jedi would take on Grogu as an apprentice: Luke Skywalker. While Luke is the perfect Jedi to train Grogu, there are a couple of others who could’ve made a great master for the 50-year-old baby, too.
Luke Is Perfect: He Was Trained By Yoda
In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke travels to Dagobah to be trained in the ways of the Force by a legendary Jedi master named Yoda. Luke spends the training montage with Yoda on his back, imparting wisdom directly into his ear.
Luke training a character that has been colloquially termed “Baby Yoda” will be a fun subversion of the Jedi training seen in The Empire Strikes Back.
Alternative: Ezra Bridger
One of the leading fan theories, when Grogu reached out to the Jedi, was that it would lead to Ezra Bridger’s live-action debut. The Mandalorian’s second season had already given live-action debuts to animated icons Ahsoka Tano and Bo-Katan Kryze.
The series finale of Rebels left Ezra’s fate ambiguous, seemingly to set up a continuation of his arc in another series. Training Grogu could’ve been an interesting way to develop Ezra’s character further.
Luke Is Perfect: He’s Rebuilding The Jedi Order
When The Mandalorian takes place, Luke is in the process of rebuilding the Jedi Order. But he’s got a long way to go because there’s only a handful of Jedi in the galaxy.
There’s an air of tragedy surrounding Luke’s attempts to rebuild the Jedi Order because the sequel trilogy has outlined that the massacre of all his students is inevitable.
Alternative: Leia Organa
If Luke Skywalker hadn’t answered the call to train Grogu, then his sister Leia Organa could’ve taken on the task. In Return of the Jedi, Luke tells Leia she’s Force-sensitive and promises to train her to harness that ability. The Rise of Skywalker revealed that she quit her Jedi training early on.
But there’s a window in the timeline in which Leia was a Jedi trainee, and she could’ve taken on a little padawan in the form of Grogu.
Luke Is Perfect: Vader’s Son Training A Survivor Of Order 66 Could Tie Into His Redemption
Darth Vader’s redemption in Return of the Jedi is one of the defining Star Wars moments. But killing the Emperor didn’t forgive all of Vader’s misdeeds; it just redeemed him in his son’s eyes. Luke went into the throne room believing there was still good in his father, and his father sacrificed himself to prove Luke right.
It’s been established that Grogu was around when the Emperor initiated the Great Jedi Purge. Vader’s son training a survivor of Order 66 could tie into the former Sith Lord’s ongoing redemption.
Alternative: Qui-Gon’s Disembodied Force Ghost
Qui-Gon Jinn was the first Jedi to figure out how to come back from the dead as a Force ghost. He initially just appeared as a disembodied spirit, which would be handy for Liam Neeson, as he’s a busy movie star and he could record all his lines for a Mandalorian episode in an afternoon.
In The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon quickly became a fan-favorite icon and established himself as a great teacher in his interactions with Obi-Wan.
Luke Is Perfect: He’s The Savior Of The Entire Jedi Order
Just before Luke was born, the Great Jedi Purge wiped out the entire Jedi Order. Thanks to Vader and Palpatine, the Sith came back in full force and took over the galaxy.
When Luke brought out the last shred of good in Vader’s heart and brought down the Empire, he effectively became the savior of the whole Jedi Order. Grogu couldn’t ask for a better Jedi master than the guy who saved the Jedi.
Alternative: Ahsoka Tano
Ahsoka Tano was Mando’s first choice to train Grogu, since he got her name and location from Bo-Katan. However, when he approached her with the job in “Chapter 13: The Jedi,” she turned it down. She compared Grogu to Anakin, saying his emotional attachments made him vulnerable to the same darkness that enraptured her old master.
But she could’ve had a change of heart. Like Obi-Wan, Ahsoka failed to prevent Anakin’s turn to the dark side. Training Grogu could offer Ahsoka a second chance.
Luke Is Perfect: He’ll Learn From Grogu Too
Around the time The Mandalorian is set, Luke is still basically a kid. He might be pushing 30, but he’s not much older than the naive moisture farmer fans met in 1977. At 50 years old, Grogu is nearly twice Luke’s age.
Luke experienced a lot throughout the original trilogy, but Grogu has lived through even more conflicts and regime turnovers. However, Luke has much more control over his Force sensitivity.
Alternative: Mace Windu
Samuel L. Jackson has been eager to return to the role of Mace Windu since Disney acquired Lucasfilm. Canonically, Windu survived the fall on Coruscant, and Jackson has aged just enough to play a post-Return of the Jedi Windu badly scarred by Palpatine’s Force lightning.
Since a younger Windu was Yoda’s right-hand man at the top of the Jedi Council’s hierarchy, it would’ve been fun to see an aging Windu training “Baby Yoda” to use the Force.