Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker Is A Clone

Surprisingly, a lot of clone Luke Skywalker talk has cropped up in the Disney era of «Star Wars.» For instance, in the «Darth Vader» comic series, it’s seemingly teased that a major villain was secretly a Luke clone all along. Another fan theory stems from the «Ahsoka» series on Disney+, where some posit that a different antagonist controversially resurrected the dead Luke clone idea in a new body. Minutiae aside, both of these theories owe their existence to one of the most popular «Star Wars» Expanded Universe works ever to be committed to print.

Back in the 1990s, author Timothy Zahn gave «Star Wars» fans the now-legendary «Heir to the Empire» trilogy. The book series takes place after the Battle of Endor and chronicles the continued adventures of Luke and his allies against the Imperial remnant — led by a debuting Grand Admiral Thrawn. Along the way, Luke encounters a clone of himself who’s inventively named Luuke. He’s created by Thrawn under the influence of the dark Jedi clone Joruus C’Baoth using DNA from the original Luke’s severed hand. Luuke meets his end at the hands of Mara Jade during his duel with Luke on Mount Tantiss.

Decades after Luuke came and went, Zahn’s influence seems to persist as fans theorize that a canon version of a Luke clone will emerge in some form.