Mark Hamill is still sounds really bitter over Star Wars, and he wants everybody to know it. Seriously, he just can’t seem to get over the story trajectory of Luke Skywalker, which came to an apparent end in Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi. At least this time his complaints, which he made to THR in a conversation that has nothing to do with Star Wars, aren’t just targeting Johnson but the entire galaxy far far away, which he says fans may be growing tired of…
“I’m not gonna tell them how to run their business, but is there a possibility of ‘Star Wars fatigue’? Yeah, I think there is. I’ve experienced it, to a certain degree. But they never listen to my ideas anyway, so who needs ’em?”
There may be some validity to that point given the $390M box office of Solo: A Star Wars Story, or there may have been other factors involved, like it having nothing to do with the Skywalker Saga, or the recasting of a beloved character, etc.
Speaking of Skywalker, Hamill isn’t so happy about the Jedi Master’s treatment in J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens, either, calling one aspect in particular a missed opportunity…
“Everyone talks about the shock of realizing that in Force Awakens I don’t come in until the last page. A bigger shock to me was them killing Han Solo before Luke could ever see his best friend again. It might be so selfishly motivated, but I said, ‘Holy cow, that’s a real missed opportunity.’ Even having the three of us together briefly.”
Getting back to the idea that nobody ever listens to his ideas, Skywalker says he pitched one to Abrams that would have allowed Luke, Leia, and Han to be reunited…
“I pitched Abrams on the idea of having me come in at the end, but how about Leia’s trying to contact me telepathically. She gets frustrated because there’s no answer, so she rushes to the new Death Star, that’s three so far. She almost gets there when she’s stopped by two stormtroopers. Just before she’s abducted, one stormtrooper turns to the other, blows him away, pulls off his helmet and says, ‘Hi sis, I’m here to rescue you.’ I said, ‘It’ll blow the roof off the joint.'”
I mean…yeah, the audience would’ve popped big for that but it sounds kinda corny. Also, I like the dig at the number of times we’ve seen the Death Star plotline. Definitely needs a long rest. He continues…
“I think it’s more effective to have people that really have a history with Han Solo witness his death and be unable to stop it,” the actor said. “His wife, the mother of his child, his best friend, instead of two characters that have known him, what, 20 minutes? But they get the keys to the kingdom, and they’re the deciders, so you just have to live with it.”
We’ll see if Hamill can live with it, whatever it may be, when Episode IX opens in December.
