Mark Hamill has always had a complicated relationship with Star Wars: The Last Jedi. While he’s long praised director Rian Johnson’s talent and filmmaking craft, he’s also been candid about disagreeing with the direction Luke Skywalker’s character took in the film. Now, nearly a decade later, Hamill is pulling back the curtain on the emotional story he created for Luke to make sense of that controversial exile.
In a recent interview with Bullseye with Jesse Thorn, Hamill addressed the long-standing narrative that he clashed with Johnson over Luke’s arc. “Rian Johnson is one of the most gifted directors I’ve ever worked with,” Hamill said. He made clear that his issue wasn’t with the filmmaking but with Luke’s motivation for becoming a hermit who had cut himself off from the Force.
In The Last Jedi, Luke believes he failed Ben Solo, who became Kylo Ren after turning on the Jedi temple. Luke internalizes that guilt and disappears, refusing to train Rey or rejoin the Resistance. But Hamill believed Luke, the eternal optimist, would have done the opposite: “I saw entire planets wiped out. If anything, Luke doubles down and hardens his resolve.”
Still, Hamill understood that the story was locked in. So with Johnson’s blessing, he created his own personal backstory to help him justify Luke’s state of mind. That imagined story is as dark as anything in Star Wars.
In Hamill’s version, Luke falls in love and leaves the Jedi Order. He and his partner have a child. But tragedy strikes when the child accidentally activates a lightsaber and is killed. Grief consumes the family. The mother takes her own life, and Luke, broken by guilt and loss, retreats from the world. “That resonated with me so deeply,” Hamill explained. “That could possibly justify [Luke’s isolation].”
Hamill shared the story not to change minds about The Last Jedi but to clarify the difference between his personal process and the finished film. “Despite the fact that I disagree with your choices for Luke, I’m going to do everything within my power to make your screenplay work,” he told Johnson. And he wants fans to understand he respects the filmmaker: “I’ve heard comments from fans who think that I somehow dislike Rian Johnson, and nothing could be further from the truth.”
Hamill has also confirmed he won’t return for future Star Wars projects, even joking there’s “no way” he’ll come back as a “naked Force ghost.” With Rey’s next chapter on the horizon and multiple new Star Wars films in the works, including The Mandalorian and Grogu and Starfighter, the Skywalker saga continues to evolve. But it’s clear Hamill has written his own quiet epilogue for the character he helped define.
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