8 Years Later, Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker Headcanon Is Worse Than What The Last Jedi Cooked Up

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When Rey arrives on Ahch-To, she meets a disheveled Luke, who doesn’t understand how the girl before him could have his lightsaber. The Jedi Master waits until Star Wars: The Last Jedi to put all his cards on the table, and they’re not received all that well. In fact, Mark Hamill himself has a different explanation for what happened to Luke before he went into exile.

Mark Hamill’s Backstory for Luke Skywalker in the Sequel Trilogy Is Tragic

While filming The Last Jedi, Hamill struggled with the way Rian Johnson was treating his character. The actor probably had hope after The Force Awakens that the filmmaker who took over for J.J. Abrams had a good explanation for why Luke would leave his friends and family behind when they needed him the most. Well, Johnson decided to put Luke in the same position Obi-Wan was in at the end of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, failing to save his pupil from the allure of the dark side and losing everything. Instead of getting on board with that, Hamill created his own story, one that’s horribly tragic.

Hamill decided that the only thing that would rip Luke away from the Jedi Order was love. He thought his character found a partner after the events of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and gave up being a Jedi to focus on building a family. After Luke’s first child was born, tragedy struck when the kid grabbed a lightsaber and ignited the blade, killing them instantly. Luke’s wife wasn’t able to handle the grief, so she took her own life. That great of a loss would send anyone to a dark place, but Hamill failed to realize that Johnson was embracing what made Star Wars great.

Luke Skywalker’s Arc in The Last Jedi Is Star Wars at Its Best

Luke found himself between a rock and a hard place with Ben Solo. He felt the darkness within him and wanted to snuff it out before it could grow. However, at the very last moment, he regretted his decision, wanting to give his nephew another chance. Ben didn’t see it that way, though, believing his uncle was giving up on him. Ben made a tough choice because he was afraid, just like Anakin Skywalker did in Revenge of the Sith when confronted with the idea of Padmé Amidala’s death.

At the start of The Last Jedi, Luke isn’t ready to face his mistakes head-on. It takes training with Rey and talking with Yoda to remind him that people are more than their mistakes and that the burden isn’t his alone. In reality, the brave Luke from Return of the Jedi, who tells his father that he knows there’s still good in him, is in there the whole time and just waiting for the right moment to resurface. And when he does, he’s smarter and wiser than ever before, confronting Kylo and helping the Resistance avoid the First Order’s wrath.

Hamill probably thinks the original version of Luke should never have left, as some characters are sacred and don’t ever falter. But falling down is what makes heroes relatable. In the face of insurmountable odds, they second-guess themselves, and they should because a hero who can’t be introspective is no hero at all.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is streaming on Disney+.

Do you think Mark Hamill’s backstory for Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: The Last Jedi is better than what Rian Johnson came up with? How do you feel about Luke’s character in general in the sequel trilogy? Let us know in the comments below!