Mark Hamill clarifies he doesn't hold grudge against “The Last Jedi ”director“ ”for making Luke 'a suicidal hermit'
- - - Mark Hamill clarifies he doesn't hold grudge against "The Last Jedi "director" "for making Luke 'a suicidal hermit'
Shania RussellJune 29, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Lucasfilm Ltd.
Mark Hamill in 'Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi'
Mark Hamill is sharing his true feelings about Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson.
Since reprising his role as Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars sequel trilogy that ran from 2015- 2019, Hamill has not been shy about voicing his candid feelings about the franchise. The actor jumped at the chance to set the record straight when asked to address his previous criticisms of the Johnson helmed film during a visit to Jesse Thorn's Bullseye podcast.
"I'd love to clear this up: Rian Johnson is one of the most gifted directors I've ever worked with," Hamill began. "He's amiable, he's fun on set, he's smart, he made a great movie. I think the standoff between Kylo Ren — Adam Driver — and I at the end is so well-staged. I love Knives Out and Brick. He's one of my favorite directors."
But, as Star Wars fans are well aware, Hamill has previously taken issue with the way that Johnson reintroduced Luke Skywalker to the franchise. In The Last Jedi, the once pure-hearted, idealistic Jedi Master returned as a hardened recluse, living in self-imposed exile after his nephew Ben Solo turned to the dark side, becoming Kylo Ren.
Lucasfilm Ltd. ; Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty
Mark Hamill in 'Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope' and Rian Johnson
In the immediate aftermath of the film's release, Hamill voiced unhappiness with the dark direction of Luke's character, at one point proclaiming, "He's not my Luke Skywalker." But now, the actor clarifies that it wasn't Luke's dark heel turn that upset him — it was merely the reason behind Luke's drastic change.
"The fact that I went public with my dissatisfaction with the motivation for Luke becoming a suicidal hermit might have colored things in a way that, maybe I should have kept that to myself," he said of the film's reception. "But I kept saying to Rian, 'This would just make Luke double down even —' and he said, 'Well, your class at the Jedi Academy were wiped out.'"
Hamill explained that he had a different idea of how Luke would respond to such a tragedy.
"I said, 'Rian, I saw entire planets wiped out!'" he recalled. "'If anything, Luke doubles down and hardens his resolve in the face of adversity.' So that's all."
With the direction of Luke's arc already set, Hamill then proposed an alternative, pitching a different reason for his character to leave the Jedi behind.
"I made up a much, much darker backstory that I thought could justify him being that way," Hamill explained. "I thought, 'What could make someone give up a devotion to what is basically a religious entity, to give up being a Jedi?' Well, the love of a woman."
Jonathan Olley/ Lucasfilm Ltd
Daisy Ridley as Rey and Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi'
Hamill previously shared his backstory idea with Entertainment Weekly in a 2017 interview, explaining that he "wrote lots and lots of scenarios" before landing on a version where Luke "fell in love with a woman who was a widow" and "left the Jedi" to help raise her child, until "the child got hold of a lightsaber and accidentally killed himself."
It only gets darker from there. Hamill told Thorn that the story ends with the wife being "so full of grief" that "she kills herself."
He explained, "I hear these horrible stories about these children who find unattended guns and wind up dead. That resonated with me so deeply. But [Rian] didn't have the time to tell a backstory like that, I'm guessing. He just wanted a brief thing to explain it. And to me, it didn't justify it."
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But all of that said, disagreeing about the story did not affect Hamill's commitment to the character.
"I told [Rian], 'Despite the fact that I disagree with your choices for Luke, I'm going to do everything within my power to make your screenplay work as best as I can,'" Hamill recalled. "And the only thing unfortunate about that is, I've heard comments from fans who think that I somehow dislike Rian Johnson, and nothing could be further from the truth."
John Wilson/Lucasfilm Ltd.
Mark Hamill in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi'
As for Johnson, the Poker Face creative has stood by his Star Wars movie, and particularly his polarizing take on Luke.
"When I was up at bat, I really swung at the ball," the filmmaker told Empire in 2022. "I think it's impossible for any of us to approach Star Wars without thinking about it as a myth that we were raised with, and how that myth, that story, baked itself into us and affected us. The ultimate intent was not to strip away — the intent was to get to the basic, fundamental power of myth. And ultimately I hope the film is an affirmation of the power of the myth of Star Wars in our lives."
Johnson was previously set to develop his own trilogy of Star Wars movies, but the project was put on the back burner as Lucasfilm pivoted to television with such titles as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and The Mandalorian and Johnson began developing several Knives Out movies for Netflix.
"It's just at this point a matter of schedule and when it can happen. It would break my heart if I were finished, if I couldn't get back in that sandbox at some point," Johnson said in 2022.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: AOL Entertainment
