Star Wars: The Last Jedi's Mark Hamill Doesn't Like This Version Of Luke Skywalker
"Luke would never say that. I'm sorry."
Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been in theaters for a week now, and is already massive box office hit. But despite the the strong critical response, film has been met with a more mixed reaction from fans, with some objecting to narrative and character decisions made by writer/director Rian Johnson. It turns out that Luke Skywalker actor Mark Hamill also has a few issues with how his character is portrayed. Warning, big spoilers ahead!
In a new interview uploaded by Youtube channel Jar Jar Abrams, Hamill reveals that the Luke in The Last Jedi "is not my Luke Skywalker." Specifically, the actor states that the Luke from the classic Star Wars trilogy would never end up in the place that we find him in at the start of The Last Jedi; a broken, disillusioned man who has exiled himself to a remote planet to die and take the entire Jedi order with him.
"I said to Rian, 'Jedis don't give up.' I mean, even if [Luke] 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," Hamill said. "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. I'm sorry."
Hamill went on to admit that this classic character was now in different hands, and the Luke that he still thinks of is the one that George Lucas created for his movies, "I'm talking about the George Lucas Star Wars, this is the next generation of Star Wars," he said. "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.
"Listen, 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. I came to really believe that Rian was the exact man they needed for this job."
Hamill actually spoke about his disagreements with Johnson about the direction of the movie back in April. In an interview with ABC, he said that he "fundamentally disagreed with virtually everything" that would happen to Luke in the The Last Jedi.
Another controversial aspect of The Last Jedi is the truth about Rey's parents. Despite the number of fan theories that have built up ever since The Force Awakens was released, in the new movie we discover that her parents were no one of any note. This week, Johnson defended this decision, stating, "I can understand why that answer doesn't feel good. It's not supposed to feel good. It's supposed to be the hardest thing she could possibly hear in that moment."
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