Star Wars: Mark Hamill Pretended He Was Playing "Jake Skywalker" in 'The Last Jedi'

When The Force Awakens hit theaters, fans were thrilled to see the Star Wars saga return to the [...]

When The Force Awakens hit theaters, fans were thrilled to see the Star Wars saga return to the big screen, with one complaint being it felt too familiar to the very first film. Writer/director Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi, on the other hand, shook things up quite a bit, causing fans to react negatively to the shocking developments. Even Mark Hamill was so surprised by the direction Luke Skywalker took that he had to justify the performance to himself by claiming he played another character named "Jake Skywalker."

***WARNING: Spoilers below for The Last Jedi***

One of the biggest surprises in the film was that Luke Skywalker turned his back on the Jedi to live on the island of Ahch-To after feeling as though he drove Kylo Ren to the Dark Side. Even in the Resistance's darkest hours, Luke refused to help.

"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 to right that wrong, so right there, we had a fundamental difference," Hamill shared of his reaction to reading the script. "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."

Ultimately, it was the guidance and intervention of Yoda's Force ghost that showed Luke the error of his ways.

"Well, in this version...see, I'm talking about the George Lucas Star Wars, this is the next generation of Star Wars," Hamill pointed out. "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 wasn't the only one shocked by Luke's path, with audiences expressing their disappointment with the character's turn, as the film's audience score on Rotten Tomatoes has made the lowest in the entire franchise.

The Last Jedi is in theaters now.

[H/T YouTube, JarJar Abrams]

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