Home Entertainment Mark Hamill reveals he's keeping a huge secret in first official STAR WARS interview

Mark Hamill reveals he's keeping a huge secret in first official STAR WARS interview

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Luke Skywalker is a wanted man. No, that isn’t a Star Wars: The Force Awakens… I think… Maybe… My uncertainty of course stems from the fact that up until now we’ve seen practically nothing of Mark Hamill’s legendary Jedi Knight, resulting in fans coming up with all kinds of wacky theories about his absence. Hamill himself has also been staying out of the limelight, unlike his co-stars who have already spilled a few details about their famous characters.

Well, it appears that Hamill is now willing to break the silence a bit. But just a tiny bit though, as there’s a whole lot of money riding on him keeping his mouth. Yes, money, as the actor revealed to PC Gamer in an interview that “I have something coming out where there’s an amount of money that if it leaks because of me, I don’t get that payment. If I keep it a secret until the day it comes out, I get that payment.”

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And just what is so secretive that Hamill’s paycheck would actually be on the line? Well, he ain’t talking – clearly – but it does seem like this one is a doozie, right up there with the original trilogy’s infamous “I am your father” moment.

“I’m good about keeping secrets. I’m proud of the fact that I knew a year and a half before anybody else that [Darth Vader] was actually dad-Vader. I didn’t even tell Harrison [Ford], or my wife, because I thought it would be terrible if she said “you know what” to a fan and it got out, because [Empire Strikes Back director] Irvin Kershner said ‘I know something, I’m going to tell you. George [Lucas] knows, I know and now I’m gonna tell you, and if it leaks, we’ll know it’s you’, because the line originally was ‘you don’t know the truth, Obi Wan killed your father’ and he said ‘we’re going to take that line out and put in ‘I am your father’.

I thought, well first of all if Sir Alec Guinness is the real villain, that’s a pretty good twist in and of itself, but this is even better. I couldn’t believe it. I was so excited. It was a mind-boggling plot twist. I still remember when we saw the first screening Harrison turned to me and said, ‘You never told me that.’ I said, ‘I know but I would have gotten in trouble if I told you!’ And now it’s happening all over again.”

Okay then, Mark Hamill. You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention! Any fan theories you want to throw out? Personally, I think that all the marketing is trying to get us to suspect that Daisy Ridley is probably Han and Leia’s daughter – with the added allusion that Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren is her sibling. This mirrors the now scrapped Expanded Universe tales in which Han and Leia had Force-powerful twins named Jaina and Jaicen Solo, with one respectively becoming a great Jedi while the other turned to the Dark Side.

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All the clues seem to line up, but I think that’s just what JJ Abrams and co want us to believe, and that Rey (and maybe Kylo Ren) are actually Luke’s kids! I have no proof for this, other than my gut, and the idea that Luke being the Good father now having to convert a son who has already turned to the Dark Side, would make a great mirror to the original trilogy. If you think I’m crazy or on to something, let me know in the comments below.

In the meantime, Hamill continued with his newfound chattiness and also spoke to Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine (via Collider) about the film, saying that “the new storyline, the new characters, and especially the actors that they chose to play them, are thrilling beyond words.”

One thing that Hamill loves about The Force Awakens is that those characters aren’t there on their own, as the old guard like himself, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher are to mentor them.

“It is about setting up the next generation of heroes and villains, but the fact that half a dozen cast members from the originals can be there to place it in some sort of context, to be there for the historical side of things, I think it’s wonderful. … Young people can see the progression of the characters. I’m old enough to be Luke’s grandfather now, and that’s a healthy, natural thing for people to see.”

When it was pointed out to Hamill that Luke is now actually the same age as his master Obi Wan Kenobi was in the original film, the actor acknowledged it, but was still incredulous about how things turned out.

“Intellectually, I know I’m the same age as Alec Guinness. Emotionally, I’m thinking, “Are you kidding me?!? I still like The Three Stooges and the Rolling Stones. How could I be old?”

But just as Luke has grown up, so too have the Star Wars movies, as Hamill explains that this new offering – while it is setting out to recapture the glory of the Original Trilogy by returning to a lot its filmmaking practices – will still offer something new for a new audience.

“I think [THE FORCE AWAKENS] could be every bit as exciting for the audience, [but] it’s not going to be like it was then, when we’re rattling around in the Death Star, and exchanging quips, and jockeying for the affections of the princess. It’s going to be age appropriate. The story has moved on, and our purpose in the story is different than it was then.”

Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens locally in just over 3 weeks on 16 December, and I can no longer freaking wait!

Last Updated: November 24, 2015

One Comment

  1. [Spoiler]

    Luke Skywalker in VII is a Gungun in a human suit

    [/Spoiler]

    Reply

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