WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Book of Boba Fett, “Chapter 6: From the Desert Comes A Stranger,” streaming now on Disney+.
During Chapters 5 and 6 of The Book of Boba Fett, young Luke Skywalker makes another surprising CGI appearance, but this time around he looks remarkably real when compared to his original cameo appearance. The advances in deep-fake and CGI technology are able to produce a much more life-like and active Luke during these episodes that can train Grogu, run through the woods, and talk with other characters while not moving into the uncanny valley.
When Luke appeared in Season 2 of The Mandalorian, this wasn’t the case and there was a sense of fakeness with the de-aging technology that was used to produce a much younger Luke Skywalker. Specifically, looking at Luke’s face during the scene on Moff Gideon’s ship cracks the illusion a bit as there is a hallow-ness in his eyes and a stiffness in his face that is similar to the look of many video game avatars. Here in The Book of Boba Fett, however, Luke truly looks like he is stepping right out of Return of the Jedi as if it was yesterday. This recent appearance of Luke could be a sign of the future extensive use of CGI acting.
Chapter 6 specifically shows how far this technology has come in recent years. He is shown in scenes for very extended periods of time as he trains Grogu and the CGI-generated actor conveys such human movement and emotions throughout. He sprints through Elphrona’s woods, hops through trees with Grogu on his back, and casually converses with Ashoka so naturally that you almost forget he is CGI-generated. His facial expressions throughout are especially compelling since the CGI actor is able to express true emotion and warmth in a way his stiff original cameo could not.
The frog scene, in-particular, is a great example of this as the CGI Luke’s face is able to transition from fondly annoyed at Grogu back to compassion and then to cheeky as he uses the force to show the Padawan how he can lift all the frogs in the pond at ease. It is a sweet and funny moment between the two characters that definitely would not have been as effective if Luke’s face had been rendered differently. There is not a hint of stiffness in any of the expressions that Luke is portraying and it makes the scene all the more human and compelling because of it.
With how effortlessly this CGI Luke is able to interact with the rest of the cast and characters it definitely begs the question of how much more will this technology be used in future projects. This type of CGI performance and de-aging has been slowly working its way into many feature films and television series as studios look to resurrect or create new projects around older IPs. Luke’s appearance in The Book of Boba Fett is a major set forward for the use of CGI acting and it wouldn’t be surprising to see more of him in future Star Wars projects.
It will be interesting to see what influence this has for the filming industry moving forward. With this level of success through a CGI performance it is definitely plausible that more studio projects will gravitate toward incorporating the technology into their future projects. This could lead to more realistic representations of deceased or de-aged actors, but it could also lead to studios rendering completely new actors for characters as opposed to hiring real talent. That may seem quite sci-fi or far-fetched, but with how life-like Lucasfilm was able to render young Luke this time around there is absolutely room for more CGI performances within major studio projects.
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