Star Wars: Mark Hamill Admits ”I Was Wrong” About Initial ‘The Last Jedi’ Reaction

Star Wars fans didn’t get to see much of Luke Skywalker in The Force Awakens, leaving our minds to wander the past two years about what Luke had gotten up to since Return of the Jedi. Actor Mark Hamill has revealed on multiple occasions how he was not only surprised by the script for The Last Jedi, but also upset with the direction writer/director Rian Johnson took his character. Hamill did, however, recently confirm that he was wrong about his preconceived notions regarding the character.

“I’ve had trouble accepting what he saw for Luke, but again, I have to say, having seen the movie, I was wrong,” Hamill confessed during an interview with IMDb.

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

In the new film, audiences learn that Luke attempted to train Ben Solo and, when seeing the darkness inside of him, had a moment of panic where he ignited his lightsaber over the sleeping boy. Ben, fearful for his life, destroyed Luke’s attempted revival of the Jedi Order.

The former hero blames his own ego for Ben’s embrace of the Dark Side, citing his belief in the Jedi Order for his actions, opting to exile himself on Ahch-To in hopes of leaving his life behind.

Johnson didn’t come to these conclusions lightly, revealing that writing Luke was his biggest challenge in the film.

“The biggest writing challenge for me was Luke Skywalker. He, as you can see from the poster, he looms large over this movie,” Johnson confessed. “Figuring out words that make sense for his head to be at, figuring out what part he was gonna play in this film, that, for me, was kind of the big gorilla of this movie.”

Hamill may have been more surprised about his character’s trajectory than any member of the audience.

“Luke says, ‘It’s time for the Jedi to end’…..huh?!” Hamill joked. “How could this happen? What could have happened to this guy, the most hopeful, optimistic guy, now this bitter old cynic.”

Despite not initially agreeing with the trajectory of the character, Hamill knew it had to be done.

“I think being pushed out of your comfort zone is a good thing, because if I was just another benevolent Jedi, training young padawans…we’ve seen it, and no one can do it better than Alec Guinness and I shouldn’t even try,” Hamill admitted.

You can see Luke in The Last Jedi, in theaters now.

[H/T YouTube, IMDb]