Even if you’re not thrilled about it, it’s possible Luke Skywalker will be played by a completely new actor one day — that is, if Mark Hamill’s wishes are granted.
In a recent interview with Esquire, the actor reflected on seeing a de-aged version of his Star Wars character on the small screen. Skywalker appeared in both The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, and the technology used to make it happen didn’t impress him much.
He told the outlet: “People say, ‘Oh, now you’re going to be able to do a whole series of Luke post-Return of the Jedi.’ I said, ‘I don’t think so. First of all, they don’t need to tell those stories, but if they do, they could get an age-appropriate actor.”
Star Wars has done it before. Why not do it again?
While Alden Ehrenreich’s Han Solo performance in Solo: A Star Wars Story didn’t work for everyone, it allowed Star Wars the chance to craft a new onscreen story around a character fans love set in a completely different point in time than their original appearance.
Audiences may not react well to any new casting, but do they ever?
Perhaps some people don’t like change, or they want to believe technology will advance enough in their lifetimes so that either their favorite actors will cease aging or the de-aging technology used in instances such as The Mandalorian will get “good enough.”
But in the above quote, for example, the actor in question doesn’t even seem interested in the idea of his legacy character continuing to appear in the franchise. He’s clearly not putting his name in the ring to appear again — maybe he’s having too much fun making cameos as other voices or characters in the franchise, as he should.
Technically, the character has already been “recast” — a completely different actor played young Luke in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, even if only in a very small role. There are plenty of actors that could portray Luke at different ages without taking you out of the scene. It’s been done in film and television time and again. Eventually, most people tend to get used to the new actor even if they liked the original more.
And with Hamill’s blessing, there’s really no reason not to, if those are the stories Lucasfilm is interested in telling next.
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