Luke Starkiller, the conceptual predecessor to series icon Luke Skywalker, joins the vast and ever-expanding roster of playable Minifigure characters in LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. A grand celebration of all three Star Wars trilogies, spin-off movies and more, LEGO Star Wars : The Skywalker Saga launched last year and has become the home of all things LEGO Star Wars.
Before the existence of Luke Skywalker as we know it today, George Lucas drafted one of the earliest versions of what would become known as Star Wars. The Adventures of Starkiller, Episode I: Star Wars introduces Luke Starkiller, who later becomes Luke Skywalker in Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope. George Lucas ended up changing Luke’s surname from Starkiller to Skywalker, as it may have something to do with the Charles Manson murder that rocked America in previous years. Although not used in the original trilogy, the name Starkiller found new use decades later as the title of Sith protagonist Garen Malek in Star Wars : The Force Unleashed.
On Star Wars Day, Warner Bros. Games UK announced on Twitter that Luke Starkiller will be coming to LEGO Star Wars : The Skywalker Saga as a playable minifigure and will be available to players for free. The figure of Starkiller wields a yellow lightsaber, which is more common in the Grand Republic era of the Star Wars timeline. This saber color makes sense, considering that just like the Republic period before the Skywalker saga, Luke Starkiller was the predecessor to Luke Skywalker, one of the most prolific sci-fi heroes in entertainment.
The Luke Starkiller LEGO figure also sports flowing blonde hair, a stark departure from Luke Skywalker’s round hair in the original trilogy. The hair combined with the cool black mask gives an almost Star-Lord look like the leader of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. Additionally, Starkiller’s orange pants are reminiscent of Skywalker’s orange Rebel flight suit. WB UK added another tweet with a short gameplay video of Luke Starkiller in battle. While only his grunt can be heard in the video, it’s unknown if he’ll have the same voice as the Luke Skywalker minifigure, or if he’ll even make sounds.
It’s great to see LEGO Star Wars : The Skywalker Saga is back in the concept stages of entertainment’s biggest franchise. As more characters from all the new Disney+ Star Wars shows continue to pour into LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, perhaps the game will add more early concept characters that never appeared in future original trilogy.
LEGO Star Wars : The Skywalker Saga is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.