Mark Hamill Teases "Lots of Surprises" in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

There have been a lot of questions about Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but chief among them is: Where's Luke? Omitted from the posters, and only a voiceover and possibly a hooded metal hand in the trailers, we don't know much of anything about what Luke Skywalker's status is in the film.

Mark Hamill has started to tease things out a little bit, at least, just yesterday teasing that he has a big (and big money) secret he's under an NDA for. Friday, Empire published a new - albeit short - quote from the actor about his character's status.

"Obviously you're seeing him at a very different time in his life," the actor said. "There's lots of surprises in this movie. You're going to love it."

What we know for a fact is that Luke Skywalker overcame the dark side at the end of Return of the Jedi, his last on-screen appearance, helping his father return to the light. He then went on, in the canonical pages of Star Wars: Shattered Empire, to work as one of the New Republic's top agents, and as a Jedi Knight. Yadda yadda yadda, thirty years, and here we are, a character being kept very secret.

Hamill did also say that shooting this film, especially the scenes in Skellig Michael, Ireland, which he recently returned to for preliminary shooting for Star Wars: Episode VIII, made him feel like the first film, and that surprised him.

"It reminded me of when I was in Tunisia on the salt flats [shooting the first Star Wars]. If you could get into your own mind and shut out the crew and look at the horizon, you really felt like you were in a galaxy far, far away. I had that same wave of emotion happen to me when I was on Skellig Michael in Ireland. I wasn't anticipating it."

Star Wars: The Force Awakens debuts December 18, 2015.