Star Wars: Mark Hamill Details How Luke’s ‘The Last Jedi’ Arc Mirrors His Own Life

The Last Jedi was meant to be Mark Hamill‘s shining moment in the Star Wars saga, only for the fans unhappy with the film’s narrative to create a negative stigma around one of the best performances of the actor’s career. In the months following the film’s release, Hamill regularly had to defend the film against detractors, resulting in the straw-grasping response that he was under Disney’s promotional orders. In a recent interview, the actor shared how the depressing journey of Luke Skywalker mirrored his own outlook on how his reality has changed over the decades.

“It is tragic. I’m not a method actor, but one of the techniques a method actor will use is to try and use real-life experiences to relate to whatever fictional scenario he’s involved in,” Hamill shared with IGN. “The only thing I could think of, given the screenplay that I read, was that I was of the Beatles generation – ‘All You Need Is Love’, ‘peace and love’.”

In Return of the Jedi, Luke’s devotion to the Jedi Order and its beliefs led to him swaying his father from the Dark Side long enough to overthrow the Emperor. Some fans expected to see Luke as a triumphant hero when he reappeared in The Last Jedi, only for audiences to learn a dark encounter led him to turn his back on what he used to believe in.

While attempting to train his nephew in Jedi ways, Luke felt a hint of darkness inside the boy, reflexively causing him to draw his lightsaber. When Ben Solo saw that his uncle would draw his weapon on him as he slept, the boy panicked and defended himself, pushing him to fully embrace the Dark Side.

Hamill had originally envisioned Luke as having found a more peaceful life after his last portrayal of the character, though his ultimate trajectory felt like a depressing reminder of the current state of the world.

“I thought at that time, when I was a teenager: ‘By the time we get in power, there will be no more war, there will be no racial discrimination, and pot will be legal.’ So I’m one for three,” the actor admitted. “When you think about it, [my generation is] a failure. The world is unquestionably worse now than it was then.”

In The Last Jedi, Luke ultimately found redemption by sacrificing himself to save his sister with the embrace of his former ideals. Hopefully Hamill can find a similar feeling in his outlook on his generation.

The next film in the saga, Episode IX, hits theaters on December 20, 2019.

What do you think about these parallels between Luke and Hamill as an actor? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

[H/T IGN]