Mark Hamill is once again making the publicity rounds. And even though the project he’s promoting has little to do with a galaxy far, far away (in fact, it’s something to do with knights, called appropriately enough, “Knightfall,” but not the kind wielding lightsabers), the conversation still turns to “Star Wars.” And after everything that has transpired in the last 14 months since the release of ‘The Last Jedi,’ there’s a lot to talk about with Hamil.
In a new interview with Den of Geek, the actor gives what sounds like final thoughts (hopefully, final, as he has continued talking about it for over a year) on the Skywalker Saga and the current state of “Star Wars.” And even though it seemed as if he was going to play nice after initial interviews post-’TLJ’ were not very complimentary of the film, Hamill is back talking about what he would have changed about the new films.
However, before he gets to changes, Hamill explains why he feels the same way that many fans do when talking about “Star Wars:”
“I was once describing ‘Star Wars’ fans, and I said, ‘They’re passionate, they’re opinionated, and they feel a sense of ownership, because they’ve invested so much time in these characters and these stories,’ and I realized I was describing myself. It can get you into trouble, because I don’t control the storylines. I’m sort of like a musician. I read the music, and I try to play it to the best of my ability. That doesn’t necessarily mean I like the tune, but that’s not my job.”
However, what he calls “passionate” and “opinionated” has morphed into abusive and hateful since the release of ‘The Last Jedi,’ so we’re going to guess Hamill wouldn’t put himself in that toxic camp.
He goes on to talk about some of the things that bothered him with the new trilogy. And perhaps unsurprisingly, the changes he would have made were more about his own wishes and maybe less about the story that Lucasfilm had in mind.
“I just thought, Luke’s never going to see his best friend again,” said the actor, talking about Harrison Ford’s Han Solo dying in ‘The Force Awakens.’ “You look at it in a self-centered 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.”
He continued, “Luke, Han and Leia will never be together again, and I’ll probably never get to work with Harrison again. 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 me.”
Another change he wanted to make to the new films, particularly in ‘The Last Jedi,’ was something that Hamill was able to fight for on set. And in describing the situation on the film, he echoes a line that seems to be the divisive theme that ran through the last Skywalker Saga film.
“They had me walking by 3PO, not even acknowledging him,” explained Hamill. “I said: ‘I can’t do that!’ [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!”
For better or worse, the Skywalker Sage ends in December, and with it, this era of “Star Wars.” We’re sure he’ll make it known if Hamill isn’t pleased with how it ends.