Mark Hamill’s return as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: The Last Jedi is one of the most eagerly anticipated movie moments of 2017.
That’s not just because of his iconic work in the original trilogy of films, but also because 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” teased and built to his return in such a tantalizing fashion.
But it turns out that Mark Hamill had major reservations about making his return as Luke Skywalker at all. During our recent discussion the 66-year-old admitted that he contemplated turning down the offer because his character had already been on such a well-rounded cinematic journey.
“See, that’s important to me. I had a beginning, middle and an end. And when I said I had trepidations about coming back, people said, ‘Oh come on. You’d say no to this big franchise and all this money’.”
“I’d say, ‘That’s not what I am saying. It’s not that I don’t want to come back. It’s just that I am terrified we can’t catch lightning in a bottle a second time.’ And there was such closure. Like I said, a beginning, middle, and an end.”
Hamill also admitted that he was concerned he wouldn’t like where “The Last Jedi’s” writer and director Rian Johnson had taken Skywalker, too.
“And what if I don’t like where Luke has ended up? What if my idea is that he is the benevolent hugely powerful figure that now runs an Academy? Or something like that. It’s like I was a member of the original band and they are playing different music. ‘I don’t like disco. I don’t want to play disco’.”
You’ll get to make your own conclusion on Johnson’s treatment of Skywalker when “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” is released on December 15, while you can read my review for the blockbuster by clicking here.
