Mark Hamill discusses Luke’s purpose in The Last Jedi, and if we will see a Luke and Leia reunion in the film…
The last time we saw Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher together on the big screen as Luke and Leia was in 1983, in Return of the Jedi, where the two were celebrating their triumph over the evil Galactic Empire.
Flash-forward 34 years later, we still have not seen the sibling duo together on-screen. In fact, Luke has yet to utter a word since Episode VI, and when we find him in The Force Awakens, he is literally speechless, when Rey tracks him down on the ocean world of Ahch-To at the end of the film.
In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Hamill provided more details on his character and his initial thoughts on returning to a galaxy far, far away.
"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. He did mention maybe coming back and doing a cameo and handing Excalibur to the next young hope."
If you are expecting to see a naive farm-boy, then pop A New Hope into your DVD, because we will not find that same Luke when we meet him again (at last) in the latest Star Wars installment.
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"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. What Rian came up with, I was stunned."
Will we finally get that onscreen reunion between Luke and Leia in The Last Jedi? Hamill hints that fans were robbed of that, due to Fisher’s tragic and untimely death.
"She was irreplaceable. There can never be a proper reunion anymore. It’s tragic. I hate that it adds an air of melancholy to the film because it doesn’t deserve it. I know for a fact she would obviously want us to be having fun. She was all about laughter and enjoying the moment. We’re all sort of having this communal period of grief. In a way, it sort of reflects the movies themselves, which were about triumphs and tragedies. They are about a family — a dysfunctional family, but a family nonetheless."
Next: A new Funko reveals Luke’s possible connection to the Dark Side in The Last Jedi
The wait is almost over, where we will meet a changed Luke Skywalker, and say goodbye to our beloved Princess, when The Last Jedi hits theaters December 15. We will have to wait until then to see if we will, indeed, have that reunion we’ve been waiting three decades to see.