Mark Hamill had a “fundamental difference” with Rian Johnson’s take on Luke Skywalker in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” In a video interview that surfaced this week that is apparently from the film’s press tour, Hamill says, “I said to Rian, ‘Jedi don’t give up.’ I mean, even if he had a problem, he would maybe take a year to try and regroup. But if he made a mistake, he would try and right that wrong. So, right there we had a fundamental difference, but it’s not my story anymore. It’s somebody else’s story, and Rian needed me to be a certain way to make the ending effective. That’s the crux of my problem. Luke would never say that.”
How did Hamill and Johnson resolve their differences? Hamill added, “I’m sorry. Well, in this version, see I’m talking about the George Lucas ‘Star Wars.’ This is the next generation of ‘Star Wars,’ so I almost had to think of Luke as another character. Maybe he’s Jake Skywalker. He’s not my Luke Skywalker, but I had to do what Rian wanted me to do because it serves the story well.”
Hamill admitted that this version of Skywalker serves the trilogy well and backs his director. Hamill said, “I still haven’t accepted it completely. But it’s only a movie. I hope people like it. I hope they don’t get upset, and I came to really believe that Rian was the exact man that they need for this job.”
(Spoiler ahead!)
TheWrap’s Phil Hornshaw wrote that “The Last Jedi” gives Luke an epic send-off, but in some ways it’s a dissatisfying one. Despite having spent so much time with Luke, elements of “The Last Jedi” make fans feel like we didn’t really know the character, he argued, adding that it’s a pity we’ll never see what more Luke and Rey could have learned from each other, and the ways their relationship could have reshaped “Star Wars” as a result.
Watch Hamill’s take in the video above.