It’s pretty much inevitable that every popular character or franchise will be rebooted, recast, or rewritten. On the eve of a new wave of Star Wars projects, rumors suggest that one of its most iconic characters could be recast. Sebastian Stan, who’s already a part of the Marvel family portraying the Winter Soldier, could be the top pick for the role. Daniel Richtman (via Giant Freakin Robot) has been tracking a series of events that give credence to the rumor.
The most recent trilogy left a bitter taste for many, having killed off many major characters. Meanwhile, back in May 2020, Mark Hamill had gone on record that he’s no longer really needed for the franchise. While grateful for all it has given him, he’s happy to step aside now. He even tweeted a farewell of sorts.
May The 9th Be A Bittersweet Episode- Knowing It Was The Last Time I Would Ever Play Luke#ByeByeSkywalker pic.twitter.com/KjWKVSksLZ
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) May 9, 2020
Fast forward to the season two finale of The Mandalorian, which gave fans a young CGI Luke that opens the doors to a number of possible stories. But as everyone knows, CGI has its limitations. Leading up to the finale, rumors had already circulated that Sebastian Stan could take on the role. Fans even began campaigning for him and created deepfakes to show the uncanny resemblance.
This has been gaining traction since 2017 when Sebastian Stan stated at Comic-Con he’d be interested in playing Luke. It seems that statement had caught Mark Hamill’s attention, who responded to it on Twitter.
Sorry to disappoint you but I refuse to say “Sebastian Stan-I AM YOUR FATHER!” (even though, in fact, I am) 😜 #SorryNotSorry #MySonSebastian pic.twitter.com/A6e4t6GkXC
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) September 24, 2017
As mentioned before, CGI has its limits, so if Disney is planning on doing more stories with Luke Skywalker, it’ll need a plan. It also seems that Mark Hamill would be open to handing the torch over to Stan, who already works with Marvel and will star in Disney+’s upcoming The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series. The recasting of characters in the Star Wars universe has been happening since the prequels, so this scenario could easily happen.