With the three new Star Wars films that Lucasfilm announced at Star Wars Celebration this year, fans have officially entered the massive speculation cycle that will define the next few years until these movies actually begin to hit theaters. While all three films are exciting for different reasons, the one that is drumming up the most conversation is Dave Filoni's movie that will serve as the culmination of the Mandoverse shows on Disney+, such as The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and likely Skeleton Crew.

Those shows, which are set approximately five years after Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, have been establishing the state of the galaxy far, far away after the fall of the Empire and the installation of the New Republic. All signs are pointing toward Filoni’s new film being some sort of adaptation of the Heir to the Empire novel, with Grand Admiral Thrawn serving as the central new villain.

The biggest question mark surrounding Filoni’s movie right now is whether or not it will incorporate the core trio of characters from the original Star Wars trilogy – Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Han Solo. These three characters are some of the most famous and beloved of the entire franchise, and they have each already appeared in numerous projects beyond the Skywalker Saga. It would not be a stretch for Filoni to include them in his Heir to the Empire film. With all that in mind, a proper reunion of this iconic trio in their prime seems more likely.

Update October 12, 2023: Following the season conclusion of Ahsoka, this article has been updated by Rafa Boladeras with more reasons why the iconic Star Wars trio should be recast.

However, the manner in which they will appear has become a heated debate. That’s because the Star Wars franchise has taken a taste of bringing back its legacy characters through the use of digital de-aging and deepfake technology. This approach was already taken with Luke in The Mandalorian, Leia in Rogue One, and both of them in Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker. Harrison Ford is also being de-aged for sequences in the new Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which is also a Lucasfilm production.

However, despite the ambition of the technology and the brilliance of the creatives behind it, this is not the approach that should be used if these three characters are brought into Filoni’s film. It’s time for Lucasfilm to do what once seemed blasphemous; they need to recast Luke, Leia, and Han.

Digital De-Aging Won’t Work

There have been a handful of occasions in which characters have been digitally de-aged or brought back after the actor’s passing throughout the Star Wars franchise. The first instance of this was in Rogue One, in which a digital double of a young Carrie Fisher appeared as Leia at the end, and a digitally recreated Peter Cushing appeared as Grand Moff Tarkin on a couple of occasions over 20 years after the actor's death. Then, in The Rise of Skywalker, a brief flashback sequence showed younger versions of Mark Hamill as Luke and Fisher as Leia, both of whom were digitally recreated for the film.

Finally, a de-aged Hamill has appeared twice in the Star Wars Disney+ shows: first in the season two finale of The Mandalorian and then again in a crossover episode of The Book of Boba Fett. With the exception of that last instance, the through line weaving all of these appearances together is that they were brief scenes in which the digital characters were only on-screen for a few moments. True, the version of Luke that was seen in The Book of Boba Fett was the most impressive use of this technology yet, as the de-aged Hamill appeared throughout several scenes and played a full supporting role in that episode. However, the digital effects were still painfully apparent at times.

Luke never quite felt like a real person when he appeared in both The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. This was most apparent when he was interacting with other non-digital characters. Hollywood, and Disney especially, has been trying to get this digital technology to a place where it can believably be used for extended sequences in a film or series.

However, the biggest hurdle in the way is that these digital recreations of real people simply can’t emote and feel as genuine as an actual human being. If Luke, Leia, and Han are going to be playing full roles in Filoni’s new movie, then they need to be played by real actors, not be brought back through the use of digital shells. As impressive as the visual effects have been, they have still always been immensely distracting and taken the viewer out of the story.

Recasting Isn’t a Bad Thing

In recent years, Lucasfilm seems to have become afraid of the concept of recasting the legacy Star Wars characters. Perhaps it is because of the financial failure of Solo: A Star Wars Story, in which Han was recast from Ford to Alden Ehrenreich. However, none of Solo's shortcomings were Ehrenreich’s fault. In reality, Ehrenreich was one of the best parts of that film. He truly embodied the character of Han by embracing what Ford had done with the role while still bringing his own personality and swagger to the film.

The same goes for the appearance of Lando Calrissian, who was played by the infinitely charismatic Donald Glover, who took over for Billy Dee Williams. Those two were the real standouts of Solo, and they delivered better performances than anything that could have been done with digitally recreated or de-aged characters. Donald Glover is now set to get his own Star Wars film, reprising his role as Lando.

What makes this shift toward digital de-aging and away from recasting all the more confusing is that Star Wars has become famous for having some of the best recast characters in any franchise. Several of the most iconic and beloved versions of Star Wars characters are the ones that have been recast from their original actors. This is certainly the case with Obi-Wan Kenobi.

While there’s no denying how great Alec Guinness was as Obi-Wan in the original trilogy, the role is undoubtedly more closely associated with Ewan McGregor at this point. McGregor played the character throughout the Star Wars prequels, and just last year, his standalone Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ series became one of the streamer’s most successful shows to date.

Another recasting that deserves a lot of love is Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma, who took over for Caroline Blakiston from the original trilogy. O’Reilly first appeared as the character in a deleted scene from Episode III – Revenge of the Sith but got another chance to play the character briefly in Rogue One, which has now led to her playing a full supporting role in Andor and recently Ahsoka.

O’Reilly’s performance in Andor might just be one of the all-time great performances from the Star Wars franchise. She has brought more life and depth to this character than has ever been seen before. If Lucasfilm had chosen to just digitally recreate Mothma for the series, then Star Wars fans would have been robbed of some of the most memorable scenes in the franchise.

If Luke, Leia, and Han are really going to appear in Filoni’s new Star Wars movie, recasting the characters is the best route to go. Yes, they are the most beloved and crucial characters in the franchise, but that’s precisely why recasting is so important. Getting real actors in there to play the characters will do them infinitely more justice than slapping a digital filter of Hamill, Fisher, and Ford on top of another actor ever could.

There’s Still Many Stories to Tell About Them

Seeing this trio played by three new actors will feel more real and natural than watching three digital characters interact with one another in a live-action environment. Plus, it would then be much easier to bring Luke, Han, and Leia back more frequently if they were to be played by actors. Fans could actually get excited about seeing their favorite characters on screen more moving forward.

In Ashoka, C-3PO makes a cameo to help Hera (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and talk in the name of Princess Leia. That is a neat solution for a one-time problem, but it can become the norm. Obviously, the great Carrie Fisher can’t appear in the role, even de-aged, so the best solution is recasting. This is just one small example that proves that if Star Wars is going to keep telling stories about what happened between the two movie trilogies, they must recast, because if not, audiences can start asking questions about what the trio were doing while the First Order was getting build, did they not care?

There’s also the fact that, as proven in Ashoka, there’s a lot happening in the Galaxy, and knowing what the three more important characters in the franchise history are doing would be very interesting. Recasting the roles of Luke, Leia, and Han would give them new arenas to play and keep telling their stories, showing a much clearer path to how they get to the newest trilogy. How has Leia become a General? What happened before Luke almost killed Ben Solo (Adam Driver), and how become so disenchanted with the Jedi ways? What have been Han and Chewbacca doing around the Galaxy? There are plenty of stories to explore with these characters.

Alden Ehrenreich can come back as Han Solo. Billie Lourd (who had an incredible performance in Booksmart) is Carrie Fisher’s daughter and could play the role that made her mother famous with all the love and respect it deserves. As for Luke, Sebastian Stan is the favorite for many. With this new trio of actors, Diseny+ and the Star Wars Universe could continue to tell stories about the three heroes that started everything for the franchise, making an even more cohesive movie and TV universe that would allow telling many incredible, exciting, fascinating stories of what Luke, Leia, and Han did for the three decades between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.

Alternatively, Don't Use Them

If Lucasfilm refuses to recast the iconic roles of Luke, Han, and Leia, then the only option is to just move on from those characters. Star Wars is a big galaxy filled with characters. While the trio are important to the story, they are not the only heroes. If anything, this would be better for Dave Filoni's plan. Instead of relying on the previous heroes from the franchise, his film would be the culmination of the many characters he created. It makes Luke, Han, and Leia important parts of the Rebellion but enforces the idea set forth by Rouge One and Andor that it is made up of many heroes.

One thing Disney has been very good about with Star Wars is emphasizing new characters. The Mandalorian and Grogu have become fan favorites, and animated characters like Ahsoka, Hera, Sabine, and Ezra have made the jump to live-action and have been given a more prominent role. This threat with Thrawn is their fight, they are the ones with the emotional attachment to it. Audiences have seen Luke, Han, and Leia at the center of two major trilogies in the Star Wars franchise, so it would be interesting to see another major part of the galactic history not shaped by them.

Luke, Han, and Leia should not factor into this new movie, other than maybe a reference, as this is a story about a new group of heroes. Bringing back the original trio has the risk of doing what Michael Keaton's Batman did in The Flash, an established character hijacking the story of the supposed central character in a desperate attempt to appeal to nostalgia.

If Star Wars fans and Lucasfilm cannot accept other actors playing iconic roles, it is time to retire those roles and focus on new characters.