Star Wars: Mark Hamill Confirms 'Empire Strikes Back' as His Favorite Film in the Franchise

Every Star Wars fan of every generation has a different favorite film, as the franchise offers audiences a lot to enjoy. Whether you prefer the whimsical nature of the prequel trilogy, the ambitious narratives of the sequel trilogy, or the fantastical mix of adventure and drama of the original trilogy, it's hard for anyone to pick a favorite film. Mark Hamill, having starred in four of the films so far, also has difficulty determining his favorite entry, as they all offer unique experiences. The actor did note, however, that were he only allowed to pick one favorite, it would be Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

"It's like, pick your favorite child. You like them all for different reasons," Hamill shared with The Hollywood Reporter when asked about his favorite entry. "I guess I'd have to go with Empire, only because it was so unexpected to have the protagonist be so soundly defeated. Losing the hand and the dad Vader, all of it was pretty unexpected. And it was much more cerebral. Yoda is such an important addition to the mythology and I thought it was so clever of George, the concept of the Force, so you can talk about religion and spirituality without making everyone uncomfortable. So, for that alone."

Given the fact that Hamill lived the events of the films, at least as an actor playing the role, he also admitted he hasn't watched the original films in more than two decades.

"I don't know how many total, but I know the last time I saw them was 21 years ago when they were re-released as Special Editions," the actor confirmed when asked how many times he had seen the films. "Even then, I didn't plan to go to the theater. I said, 'Well, just send me copies,' to Lucasfilm, and my kids were young and said, 'Oh, daddy, but we haven't seen them in the theater.' I said, 'Well, you've got a point.' They had only seen them on home video. So we saw each one once, in 1998."

Hamill will reprise his role of Luke Skywalker, in some capacity, in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode IX, though he has regularly revealed how much he enjoyed the experience filming the original films with Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford as highlights of his career, so we don't anticipate the new film taking the top spot in his ranking.

Star Wars: Episode IX lands in theaters on December 20th.

What do you think of Hamill's choice? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

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