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Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Hamill explained why he came back for the fan-favorite TV series. “The reason I did Mandalorian was that Luke had a beginning and an end. There was no middle,” he said, comparing it to making a trilogy of James Bond movies that ends just as he gets his license to kill. “You never got to see Luke as a Master Jedi at the peak of his powers.”
Hamill continued, “He was the most idealistic character in that series. He was someone who would take adversity and double down and come back and counter his setbacks. We didn’t see any of that. So when I got the chance, I thought, ‘Geez, this is wonderful.’ I think [Mandalorian writers and directors] Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, boy, do they get Star Wars. They get it. They’re speaking the same language that George did in a way that I questioned in the sequels.”
The Mandalorian Was Appealing for Mark Hamill After the Sequel Trilogy
Hamill has been upfront about considering Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson one of the best filmmakers he’s worked with, but most Star Wars fans know Hamill didn’t agree with the way Luke was portrayed in the sequel trilogy. He struggled grappling with the idea of Luke being a cynical old man who had given up on his friends and the Jedi religion. Hamill even came up with an incredibly dark backstory to justify why Luke would make that choice, but his ideas didn’t make it into the film.
To his credit, Hamill delivered a captivating performance as the elderly Luke — one that demonstrated a different side of his acting range. But it’s easy to see why doing something like The Mandalorian was appealing for Hamill. After his experience with the sequels, it was probably a refreshing change of pace to play the more idealistic, optimistic Luke Hamill was familiar with from his original trilogy days again. It also sounds like it was an exciting opportunity to finally play the “middle” Hamill talked about. That was probably something Hamill wanted to do for years, and the magic of modern filmmaking technology made it a reality.
