Star Wars is no stranger to Deepfake videos on YouTube, earlier in December, a YouTuber by the name of Shamook had released a Deepfake video of Grand Moff Tarkin from Rogue One. Now, Shamook is back with another Deepfake video for the Star Wars universe and he has set his eyes on The Mandalorian.
A small warning for The Mandalorian season 2 spoilers below. Proceed at your own risk.
For those not in the know, Deepfakes are essentially, well, fake videos that utilise A.I. to show people doing or saying things that they never actually did.
In the final episode of The Mandalorian season 2, we see a de-aged Mark Hamill return to save the day following a Force message from Baby Yoda. In the episode, Luke Skywalker looked a lot like how he did in 1983’s Return of the Jedi, and many had praised the production team at Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic for how well they have managed to pull it off.
Though when placed beside Shamook’s Deepfake version, it seems Shamook’s take on Luke Skywalker seems just that tad bit better compared to the original. Shamook has managed to take CGI Luke out of the uncanny valley he looked stuck in, and make him a little more lifelike, with more animated eyes and mouth movements.
Whether or not the Deepfake is better than the original is ultimately up to the viewer, but we certainly have no complaints about it. And as it turns out, Star Wars fans on the internet are liking Shamook’s Deepfake take on Luke too, with some even calling for director Jon Favreau to implement Deepfake technology in the future instead of CGI.
A third season for The Mandalorian has been confirmed, though no specific release dates were given as of yet. Favreau has stated that it will be coming soon after The Book of Boba Fett (via Polygon).
Germaine is a fun-sized introvert who loves nothing better than sleeping in on rainy days. She can be found reading fanfiction and manga while still waiting for her Hogwarts acceptance letter. It’ll come eventually.
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