Star Wars Can Fix Its Cameo Problem With Another Cameo
Let the worlds collide.
Star Wars has a major nostalgia problem. At best, its old feeling of childhood wonder can be transposed into a new coming-of-age adventure like in Skeleton Crew. But at worst, original storytelling can get bogged down by a need to tie it into the greater Star Wars story.
Take The Acolyte. It had the most freedom of any Star Wars series, as it was set at an untouched point in the timeline. However, in the very last seconds of Season 1, we saw the back of Yoda, the only character from the original trilogy alive in that era. It felt unnecessary, and with The Acolyte canceled, the moment will be frozen as one of wasted potential.
Not even the most remote series is exempt from a cameo to make fans react like one of Pavlov's dogs, but an upcoming cameo could solve this problem by incorporating an underrated character who slots right into the modern landscape.
Cal Kestis (portrayed by Cameron Monaghan) in Jedi: Survivor.
Prolific leaker Daniel Richtman claims Lucasfilm is looking to bring video game protagonist Cal Kestis into live action. Kestis, much like Skeleton Crew’s Jod Na Nawood, was a youngling when his master was slaughtered in Order 66, leaving him half-trained and forced into hiding. In the games Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor, Cal gets swept up in a mission requiring his Jedi skills and intuition. Bringing Cal into live-action would be easier than it seems; the character is modeled after its actor, Cameron Monaghan, so there’s no question of casting.
Richtman doesn’t specify whether Cal would appear in a series or movie, but he would be a perfect fit for the Mandoverse. At the end of The Mandalorian Season 2, young Grogu sends a message to all the remaining Jedi in the hopes that someone would find and train him. There was a lot of speculation over who the big cameo would be, and Cal was among the most likely suspects. The plot of Fallen Order followed Cal as he tracked down a holocron full of information on Force-sensitive children, meaning he’s got a vested interest in the future of the Jedi Order. Granted, he ultimately destroyed the holocron to keep the children safe, but Grogu, as a fellow survivor, is different.
Luke Skywalker’s cameo in The Mandalorian is the ultimate example of Star Wars’ cameo problem.
Instead, the big Season 2 finale cameo was Luke Skywalker, de-aged through dubious deepfake technology, in the ultimate example of the nostalgia-bait cameo. Plenty of other characters could have been used — Clone Wars Jedi Plo Koon was used as a decoy to hide the reveal during production — but the show chose to bring back a character who’d already starred in an entire trilogy of films and then some.
Cameos shouldn’t be a way to make fans point at the screen and say, “Hey, it’s that guy,” but to introduce fans to a new part of the Star Wars universe. Bringing Ahsoka into The Mandalorian allowed fans to learn about what happened in The Clone Wars. Adding Sabine, Hera, and Ezra to Ahsoka allowed fans to learn about the events of Rebels. Hopefully, Cal Kestis will get the same treatment — even if it is a few years too late.
