This is getting a bit exhausting, right? It can’t be just me, can it? It’s been over a year since “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and over three years since ‘The Force Awakens,’ but actor Mark Hamill just can’t get enough of talking about how he would have changed those films. Now, in a new THR podcast, the actor who played Luke Skywalker in the classic “Star Wars” franchise is opening up about how he wasn’t very pleased with his introduction in the new trilogy and his ultimate fate. Again.
Now, this isn’t just Hamill talking about his characterization in ‘The Last Jedi,’ which he has done numerous times before. Instead, he’s going all the way back to ‘The Force Awakens,’ which was directed by J.J. Abrams. As fans are well aware, Hamill’s Luke Skywalker doesn’t show up until the final scene of the film, leading to a cliffhanger ending. However, if the actor had his way, that’s not even close to how the story would have gone. In fact, he even pitched his idea for a story that would have fixed a “missed opportunity.”
“Everyone talks about the shock of realizing that on ‘Force Awakens’ I don’t come in until the last page,” he said (via THR/Comicbook.com). “A bigger shock to me was them killing Han Solo before Luke could ever see his best friend again.”
He added, “I mean, it might be selfishly motivated, but I said, ‘Holy cow, that’s a real missed opportunity.’ Even having the three of us together, even briefly. I pitched [J.J.] Abrams on the idea of, ‘You can still have me come in at the very end, but how about this. How about Leia’s trying to contact me telepathically, she gets frustrated because there’s no answers, so she rushes to the new Death Star’–that’s three, so far.” (Nice little jab at the overused Death Star storyline, Hamill.)
“And she almost gets there but she gets stopped by two Stormtroopers, and just before she’s abducted, one Stormtrooper turns to the other one, blows him away, pulls off his helmet and says, ‘Hi, sis, I’m here to rescue you.’ I say, ‘It’ll blow the roof off the joint, I’m still in it at the very end,’” Hamill continued.
Now, this might delight many fans of the original trilogy, who were hoping that the new films would pick up with the same characters and continue the story of Han, Luke, and Leia. However, it’s clear that Lucasfilm wanted the focus to be on the new folks, such as Rey, Kylo, Finn, and Poe.
“I think it’s more effective to have people that really have a history with Han Solo witness his death and be unable to stop it,” the actor said. “His wife, the mother of his child, his best friend, instead of two characters that have known him, what, 20 minutes? But they get the keys to the kingdom, and they’re the deciders, so you just have to live with it.”
That last statement is very much true, Mr. Hamill. Hopefully, after the end of ‘Episode IX,’ we can all just “live with it” and move on. Because this story is getting very, very old.