Mark Hamill Signed On For ‘The Mandalorian’ Because Fans Never Saw “Middle” Of Luke Skywalker’s Story
While Luke Skywalker’s surprise reveal as Grogu’s potential caretaker managed to spark excitement in even the most exhausted of Star Wars fans, Mark Hamill has revealed that the main reason he agreed to appear on The Mandalorian was his own disappointment towards Disney’s handling of the Jedi Master’s narrative arc.
The actor recalled his alleged motivations for returning to a galaxy far, far away during a recent interview given to The Hollywood Reporter’s James Hibberd in promotion of the upcoming film adaptation of Stephen King’s The Long Walk, wherein he’s set to portray the story’s overarching antagonistic force, The Major.
Amidst a wider discussion touching upon such topics as his retiring from the role of DC’s animated Joker following the death of Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy, the ups-and-downs of his long career, and his time working on Netflix’s The Fall of the House of Usher, Hamill was eventually asked by Hibberd as to his thoughts regarding the potential for Lucasfilm “to make an AI Luke Skywalker in products, with increasing realism, even after you’re gone”, the actor admitted that, at current, he was taking a ‘wait-and-see’ approach to the entire concept of AI in Hollywood:
“What you’re asking about is so hard to contemplate. Are we going to have to have something in our wills that comment on that, saying, ‘I don’t want this done’? I have enough trouble trying to deal with the jobs that I do have than to start speculating about the future. There’s so many questions about AI that haven’t been answered. We’ll see how it plays out.”
Met with the subsequent observation from Hibberd that “It should be easier for you to contemplate than it would be for most because there was already the half-measure of the de-aged version of Luke in The Mandalorian“, Hamill clarified that he agreed to do the show not to ease fans in to the idea that all future appearances of the Jedi hero would elicit an ‘uncanny valley’ feeling, but rather to finally do right by long-time Star Wars fans and give them the ‘full-power’ Luke they never got:
“The reason I did Mandalorian was that Luke had a beginning and an end. There was no middle. It was like making a trilogy about James Bond as a young boy who first became aware of the Secret Service and wanted to be a part of it. Part two was him training to be an agent. Part three is earning his license to kill — The End. No From Russia With Love, Dr. No or Goldfinger.
“You never got to see Luke as a Master Jedi at the peak of his powers. He was the most idealistic character in that series. He was someone who would take adversity and double down and come back and counter his setbacks. We didn’t see any of that. So when I got the chance, I thought, ‘Geez, this is wonderful.’ I think Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, boy, do they get Star Wars. They get it [emphasis his]. They’re speaking the same language that George did in a way that I questioned in the sequels.'”
Notably, if Luke Skywalker ever does make another appearance in a Disney Star Wars project, he will not be portrayed by Hamill, as he told ComicBook.com in June that while the Tatooine farm boy will always be a part of him, he had finally chosen to move on from the role:
“I am so grateful to George [Lucas] for letting me be a part of that back in the day, the humble days when George called Star Wars ‘the most expensive low-budget movie ever made’.
“We never expected it to become a permanent franchise and a part of pop culture like that. But my deal is, I had my time. I’m appreciative of that, but I really think they should focus on the future and all the new characters.
Signing off with a joke, Hamill ultimately laughed, “And by the way, when I disappeared in [The Last Jedi], I left my robes behind. And there’s no way I’m gonna appear as a naked Force ghost.”
