In the finale of the second season, The Mandalorian, a well-known Star Wars fan favorite returns. A deepfake video shows that the cameo could have worked much better, which makes Disney’s CGI variant look old.
Attention spoilers for the last episode The Mandalorian Season 2!
Attention! Massive spoilers follow from here! If you haven’t seen the second season of The Mandalorian and don’t want to spoil yourselves, please don’t read any further here.
Return of a Star Wars legend
By now, you’ve hopefully seen Chapter 16: The Mandalorian Season 2 Salvation. Otherwise, hurry up now before we spoil the last moments of the Star Wars series for you.
In the final minutes of the episode, Luke Skywalker appears to save the day: On board Moff Gideon’s (Giancarlo Esposito) battleship, he battles his way through the Imperial villain’s Dark Trooper to get “Baby-Yoda” in the teachings of the Jedi teaching. Of course, there is a heartbreaking farewell between Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu.
The emotional rollercoaster ride starts rolling with Luke Skywalker’s return, who is given an epic appearance with The Mandalorian that the sequel trilogy missed. However, Mark Hamill’s appearance in the Star Wars series is not free from criticism.
Luke, is it you ?!
Since the events of The Mandalorian take place only a few years after Episode 6 – The Return of the Jedi and long before Episode 7 – The Force Awakens, a much younger version of Mark Hamill has to appear.
Therefore, in the finale of the second season The Mandalorian comes a comparable one De-Aging Technology for use as it has already been used in other Star Wars or Marvel productions.
However, the end result is not quite as convincing as those responsible at Lucasfilm might have hoped: The so-called “Uncanny Valley” is definitely there and is therefore also criticized by one or the other viewer.
Deepfake improves season 2 finale
Because of this, the Star Wars fan has become Shamook got to work myself and worked on the scene for four days with a deepfake AI. Specifically, he used the free software for this Deep Face Lab. And indeed: In most respects, his result is much more convincing than the official one on Disney Plus.
Luke Skywalker’s face is given much more contours and his eyes appear much more lively and less static. There are only noticeable problems with the movements of the mouth. Here, however, Shamook emphasizes: If he had had more time and access to the raw material, his version of the young Luke Skywalker would look much better.
Link to YouTube content
When comparing the two variants directly, however, fans must note: The Mandalorian is said to look good overall as a Star Wars series on high-resolution 4K screens. We only see deepfake hatch compressed for the YouTube algorithm. Accordingly, a comparison between the two recordings is only partially fair.
It is no secret that Disney is still working on its own de-aging technology: the company only patented itself in mid-2020 Megapixel-Deepfakes for the big screen. However, it remains to be seen when they will be used.
The future of Star Wars and The Mandalorian
If you’re also interested in the future of Star Wars, you should take a look at our other content. We’ll tell you, among other things, how to do it Season 3 of The Mandalorian and the spin-off The Book of Boba Fett continues:
more on the subject
The Mandalorian season 3: what happens after season 2?
We also have an overview of all planned films and TV series of the Star Wars universe for you. May the force be with you!
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