Arguably the greatest mystery surrounding the upcoming blockbuster surrounds Luke Skywalker. Having come across Rey in the final scene of the 2015 title Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the Jedi has been seemingly isolated and stranded for years as the pair of heroes finally unite.
But as though details become clearer when this year's picture Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens on December 15, actor Mark Hamill has been undergoing his own press circuit as the picture approaches. Speaking to the Associated Press, he is well aware of the hype that is about to drop.
"It’s just the calm before the storm," he said. "With something like this, it’s almost too high-profile for comfort."
Hungary Like The Wars For Dark and Brooding Luke
Végül! Magyarországon fedőfiú vagyok! #TheLastJedi #CantWaitForVIII #HungarianHamster pic.twitter.com/rtJKZL7Vz2
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) August 30, 2017
Hamill would profile his own press as he appeared on the cover of a Hungarian entertainment magazine.
"Finally! In Hungary I’m a cover-boy!" he posted.
What would make this all the more eye-catching was the color of the garment, sporting a dark black outfit that suggests Skywalker could be following in the footsteps of his father by engaging with the dark side. With this potential bombshell left for others to speculate on, Hamill told the AP that there was trepidation reprising a role that had been completed with one beautiful arc.
"A thing that felt maybe wrong about coming back was the fact that the original trilogy had a beginning, a middle and an end," he remarked. "But there’s two ways of looking at that. On the one hand, it had closure. But if you look at it another way, it’s the story of how Luke went from becoming a farm boy to a Jedi and then the story ends. It would be like telling the story of how James Bond got his license to kill and became 007, and the story ends."
For Hamill, this choice to return was made all the more frustrating by Disney and Lucasfilm, with both studios unwilling to tell the performer what they had in mind for him.
"When they asked me to come back, it was scary. I thought, 'Gee, it was hard to catch lightning in a bottle the first time. I don’t know if this is such a wise idea.' When we left, even if they were going to do a third trilogy, it wouldn’t have anything to do with us. George (Lucas) never said you’re going to do three more. He did mention maybe coming back and doing a cameo and handing Excalibur to the next young hope. This is back when we were doing the first one and I thought, 'What is this supposed to be?'"
Hamill: Luke's Change Is Most Obvious From Original Players
Even from that brief glimpse of Skywalker in Force Awakens, it is obvious that the man has been transformed emotionally from his experiences during that hiatus. Hamill suggest that those gaps will be explored with director Rian Johnson delivering a concept that worked for the actor.
"Absolutely. Luke changed, I think, more than the other characters in the original trilogy, from callow farm boy to a Jedi in training to finally a Jedi master. What you’re talking about is what really fascinated me. Between Return of the Jedi and Force Awakens, there’s just decades of history that’s unknown. So I was wondering how they’re going to handle all this.
"Now, obviously, with Force Awakens, J.J. (Abrams) had a full plate. It was inevitable that they would push me down the line. I was sorry I wasn’t able to work with any of the original actors again. But it’s not about us anymore. In this new one, I was saying to Rian Johnson: I need to know my backstory. It was kind of unclear. You read where he is now and what he’s doing now and sort of have to fill in the blanks for yourself. So I did do a backstory myself. It’s not about Luke anymore, so it’s not really important. But I had to make sense of it for myself. What Rian came up with, I was stunned."
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