The official release of Disney Plus’ Obi-Wan Kenobi is stirring up Star Wars hype as fans of the franchise flock to the new show with high hopes for a worthy entry into the main canon.
The latest Star Wars series takes aim at the years between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope as Obi-Wan lives in exile on the desert planet of Tatooine. It follows Ewan McGregor in a return to his fan-favorite Star Wars role and aims to highlight a slew of new and returning characters. One such character is the ever-important Luke Skywalker, who Obi-Wan — now going by “Old Ben” — works to protect from a distance. The character appears in the show at a much younger age than fans are familiar with, leaving his enduring legacy in the hands of a youthful actor.
Who plays Luke in Obi-Wan Kenobi?
The events in Obi-Wan Kenobi take place 10 years following the conclusion of Revenge of the Sith. That puts the young Luke at almost exactly 10 years old, living the only life he’s ever known on his Uncle Owen’s moisture farm. Trailers hint that Owen Lars, in keeping with his character from A New Hope, will be resistant to the idea of Jedi training, thanks in large part to Anakin’s assumed fate.
While Obi-Wan Kenobi aims to predictably focus most of its attention on Obi-Wan himself, the show is almost guaranteed to direct a certain amount of attention on the young Luke. The series will take place during his formative years and seems to have purposefully cast a young actor who shares quite a few similarities with Jake Lloyd, the child actor who portrayed Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. The talented creators behind the show clearly approached the character with purpose, an idea that fans can’t wait to see play out on the small screen.
Historically, the character of Luke has been portrayed by the singular Mark Hamill, who played the Force-sensitive Jedi throughout the original trilogy as well as the prequel trilogy and spin-off shows like The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. He’s set to be replaced for the upcoming series, however, as even the immensely talented Hamill can’t pull off a de-aging quite this intense.
Unsurprisingly, the actor behind Kenobi‘s Luke is still mostly unknown, thanks in large part to his age. Grant Feely, a mostly untested young actor, is set to portray Luke in the upcoming series. His age isn’t definitively known, but based on appearances, Feely appears to be between 9 and 11 years old. This puts him in the perfect age range to play the young Skywalker and hopefully sets him up to appear in more seasons — and perhaps more spin-off series — in the future.