The Deepfake Luke Skywalker meme emerged following the Season 2 finale of The Mandalorian, where a digitally de-aged Mark Hamill appeared as a young Luke Skywalker to rescue Grogu. While the initial CGI received mixed reviews for its 'uncanny valley' effect, it sparked a massive wave of fan-made deepfakes and eventually led to Lucasfilm hiring a prominent YouTube deepfake artist. The meme template captures the shock, nostalgia, and technological debate surrounding the return of a classic hero. It is widely used to represent a 'savior' figure appearing at the last second, or to joke about the evolving nature of digital effects and de-aging technology in modern cinema.