Reports of Mark Hamill quitting Star Wars are, it turns out, greatly exaggerated. In a new interview, the Luke Skywalker actor clarified that he feels his time with the franchise is done but hasn’t quit. (Star Wars: The Last Jedi spoilers ahead!)
“I don’t want to make a big pronouncement like, ‘This is my decision,’” Hamill told Sunday TODAY’s Willie Geist in a new interview. “I’m just saying that it really felt like a conclusion. My character was given complete closure. I died, ironically by overdosing on the Force, I might point out.”
Courtesy of the Everett Collection
Hamill played Luke Skywalker in the franchise’s original big-screen trilogy: 1977’s Star Wars, 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back and 1983’s Return of the Jedi (1983). Alongside Harrison Ford and the late Carrie Fisher, Hamill returned for the sequel trilogy to close out the Skywalker Saga. Resistance fighter Rey (Daisy Ridley) locates Luke at the end of 2015’s The Force Awakens, and the Jedi Master sacrifices himself to ward off the First Order in 2017’s The Last Jedi. Hamill does have a cameo in the 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, however, as Luke appears as to Rey as a Force spirit guiding her to her destiny.
“I had my time,” Hamill told Geist. “I’m really appreciative, but I’m really looking to the future for all these new projects.”
Furthermore, Hamill said, he hasn’t been asked to come back for more movies — not that he necessarily blames the Star Wars decision-makers. “I mean, come on,” he said. “How much can you do with a Force ghost?”
Hamill did rave about this “whole new era” for Star Wars in film and TV, as new creators expand the story George Lucas created a half century ago. “George gave them this amazing canvas, the entire galaxy,” Hamill said. “They can do Westerns, mysteries, comedies, whodunits, anything within that realm of Star Wars. And they’re doing so well. I love Rogue One, Mandalorian, Book of Boba Fett.”
And Hamill did reprise his Star Wars part for those last two shows, playing a younger Luke through de-aging technology.
And perhaps this onscreen Jedi isn’t done with the franchise just yet. “I’d like to see a movie set all in the Force ghost realm,” Hamill said. “You know, I could have a conversation with [late Obi-Wan Kenobi portrayer] Alec Guinness.”