Luke Skywalker’s evil clone may be the last piece of the canon of the extended universe to become part of Disney’s Star Wars in The Mandalorian.
Luke Skywalker’s appearance in Star Wars: The Mandalorian it was one of the best surprises of the second season, and the events of the Master Jedi will be fundamental for the future, as fans will want to know how Grogu’s training is progressing. However, there is still a question whether the Luke who took Grogu away is the genuine article.
An evil clone of Luke Skywalker was part of Star Wars canon before, which means that there is a possibility that the creative team at The Mandalroain tricked everyone by sending the most precious Force user in the galaxy with a doppelganger.
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Having been raised from Luke’s hands after being hacked by Darth Vader during his battle in Cloud City, the clone, Luuke, appeared in the popular Thrawn Trilogy He was a henchman of another Jedi clone, Joruus C’baoth, serving as an extension of his master’s will. Luuke would fight the real Luke until the stoppage, but eventually, Mara Jade was able to distract the clone and kill him. Fighting a dark reflection of himself and watching him die was a traumatic experience for Luke, who took him to the Dark Side.
Even after the elimination of legends, clones remain an important part of the current Star Wars canon. Notoriously, Emperor Palpatine returned from the dead in The Rise of Skywalker using a clone body, which allowed him to continue to exercise his Force skills. The Mandalorian also dealt with its fair share of clones. With Boba Fett returning in Season 2, Din Djarin was fighting alongside a Jango Fett clone for several episodes.
With that in mind, it would not be an exaggeration to believe that a clone of Luke exists in this continuity. There is little or no precedent being required for the appearance of a clone, and Luuke’s origin could be recycled because the real Luke’s hand was never recovered in the current canon. However, the likelihood that Lucas who appeared in Mandalorian is a clone is low. Grogu would have realized that the Jedi was not who he appeared to be when they first came in contact and R2-D2 would not have followed him either, unless there were also clones of evil androids at stake.
Now, while these facts make it clear that the creative team behind The Mandalorian didn’t intend Luke to be a clone, that doesn’t mean that Lucasfilm’s creative team will never arrive so well, especially since his immediate future is in the Disney + spin-offs and not in the movies. A Disney + series could explore the idea of a Luke clone operating in the same space as the post-original trilogy The Mandalorian does, interacting with characters like Ahsoka Tano, which subverts the expectations of his long-awaited first date.
In that sense, an evil Luke has some potential for storytelling. However, it is probably better than the current Star Wars canon is far from the craziest side of the EU. Obviously, it would be an interesting idea to explore something similar to Star Wars’ response to Marvel What if?, but not as part of the franchise’s canonical future.
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