Mark Hamill has recently been doing press for the upcoming TV show Knightfall, and during an interview With Den of Geek, Mark opened up about some issues he had with his role in the current Star Wars Trilogy. This is not the first time that Mr. Hamill expressed trepidation with the way Luke Skywalker is portrayed in the current trilogy. Looking at the comments as a whole, Hamill definitely seems disappointed.
Mark hates the fact that he and Harrison Ford didn’t get to work together on the series. With Han dying in Episode VII and Luke Dying in Episode VIII, we will never get to see the two best friends meet up in a Star Wars Film. Some people may call a Han, Luke, and Leia scene fan service. Many fans though dislike that our heroes never go on one last adventure.
“I just thought, Luke’s never going to see his best friend again. You look at it in a self-centred way. I said that it was a big mistake that those three people would never reunite in any way. I guess I was wrong, because nobody seems to care! I have to stipulate that I care, but it didn’t really seem to affect the larger audience. Luke, Han and Leia will never be together again, and I’ll probably never get to work with Harrison again.”
Mark also mentions feeling hornswoggled by his contract and what it meant. Mark came back for three movies, and not just cameo appearances. He calls his role in Episode VII the beginning of Episode VIII. He dies in The Last Jedi, but he is in reportedly in Episode IX as a Force Ghost. Mark feels Luke’s death should have happened in the last movie of this series.
“Then the second thing was that they killed me off. I thought: oh, okay, you should push my death off to the last one. That’s what I was hoping when I came back: no cameos and a run-of-the-trilogy contract. Did I get any of those things? Because as far as I’m concerned, the end of VII is really the beginning of VIII. I got one movie! They totally hornswoggled (tricked) me.”
Hamill would also discuss how Johnson directed him to ignore C-3PO and just walk right past him for one scene:
They had me walking by 3PO, not even acknowledging him. I said: “I can’t do that! He (The Last Jedi’s director, Rian Johnson) said, “Okay, go over and do whatever.” So I went over, and I did whatever. They say it in the script: “Forget the past, kill it if you have to”, and they’re doing a pretty good job!’
The statement really sticks with me the most and may be the most telling to fans. Mark seemed genuinely upset with the lack of acknowledgment to the stories that took place before.
He specifically discusses the scene where he’s instructed to ignore C-3PO. The writing is reminiscent of when Chewie and Leia ignore each other in The Force Awakens. The action seems out of character for heroes that went through so much together. Mark was able to fix his scene. However, it was the underlying tone of dismissal by the director that upset so many fans.
Mark does mention that he loves to talk, and sometimes he is shocked to read his own words taken out of context. Fans love the films so much that we may be guilty of occasionally grabbing onto something one of the actors say, and running with it.
“The thing is, Luke changed so much between the first trilogy and the last trilogy. I got myself into trouble. I made a vow – I said that I’m not going to talk about the movies anymore, because I think it’s important for the audience to see them. My problem was, I wasn’t dealing with social media back then, where you say something and it goes around the world in 24 hours! If I were to answer your questions on paper, I’d think: oh, that sounds a little strong, or, I shouldn’t say this. But I have a tendency just to talk and talk and talk, and you can cherrypick. You know, I’ll be reading something, and say, “What moron said this?”, and then realise, “Oh, it’s me.” They can take selective comments you’ve made out of context and use it to support their argument: “See, Mark hated Star Wars!” “Did I?””
I feel that Mark Hamill has some legitimate grievances with the way Luke Skywalker was handled. Many fans felt that Luke Skywalker was out of character and underused in the new trilogy.
For a fan who has had many of these same concerns it is nice to know that Mark Hamill understands, and at least in some ways agrees.
What do you make of Hamill’s comments? Do you agree with his criticism of how Luke Skywalker has been portrayed in the new trilogy so far?