*Spoilers*
Leading up to the release of The Last Jedi, whispers of creative differences between Mark Hamill and director Rian Johnson had Star Wars fans scratching their heads. What could’ve possibly gone sideways for Luke Skywalker himself to question the direction of his grand return? Now that the movie has hit theaters, we know. Luke Skywalker is broken. He’s given up on the Jedi, and possibly even the Force. To put it simply, Hamill didn’t agree with Luke turning his back on the Resistance and those he loved due to a wild-eyed, late-night freakout on the broad-chested Kylo Ren.
Now Hamill has finally explained his issues with Johnson’s take on an old, grizzled Luke Skywalker during a press event, saying that George Lucas would’ve never taken this dark turn.
“I said to Rian: ‘Jedis 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. 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 is 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, but 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, and I came to really believe that Rian was the exact man that they need for this job.”
At least Hamill agrees that the painful roads Luke Skywalker had to go down were a necessary evil in order to keep Star Wars moving forward. It’s no longer about the Skywalkers, and when you zoom out, it never really was. The dark and the light has been battling for a millennia before a little boy tried spinning because it was a good trick, and it will be battling for a millennia after that boy’s grandson drank green milk from a lazy alien’s teet.