Without a doubt, the original Star Wars trilogy featuring Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, is one of the most iconic series of films in Hollywood’s history. These films, which spanned from 1977 to 1983, laid down the foundation of the Star Wars franchise we have today. Many fans claim that these films are iconic and have almost no flaws, however, the star of these films, Mark Hamill, once disapproved of a scene that was quite violent.
In the second installment, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Hamill shot a scene with Wampa, a carnivorous, semi-sentient white-furred primitive species of mammal. While shooting the scene, Hamill thought his lightsaber would zoom past the creature, just to scare him off, however, in the final cut, the creature’s arm was chopped off. After watching the final cut, Hamill was ticked off by the unnecessary cruelty. He has always been firm that Luke Skywalker wouldn’t do anything like this.
Also read: Star Wars Dodged a Nightmare: Unmade George Lucas Trilogy Gave Mark Hamill the Cruelest Fate
Mark Hamill disapproved of this scene in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
In 2017, actor Mark Hamill made it clear that he was always against cruelty and pointed out that he hated this one particular scene in the 1980s The Empire Strikes Back where Luke Skywalker chops off a Wampa’s arm. Hamill wrote in an X post,
“When filming scene I was assured my lightsaber swipe toward camera (creature not on set) would simply singe fur 2 scare him off-Horrified to later see amputation & unnecessary cruelty-Wampa was HUNGRY (not EVIL)-Luke would never do this! #StillAngry2017”
Hamill explained that he was told his lightsaber would singe the Wampa’s fur just to scare it away, however, in the final cut, Wampa’s arm was chopped off. Hamill wasn’t satisfied with the fact that Skywalker was so necessarily violent.
Mark Hamill had another issue with 2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi
In a 2017 interview with a Spanish-language movie site called SensaCine, Mark Hamill explained that he was not satisfied with the way his character, Luke Skywalker, was written. He explained,
“I said to Rian, I said ‘Jedis don’t give up.’ I mean, even if he had a problem, he would maybe take a year to try and regroup, but if he made a mistake he would try and right that wrong, so right there, we had a fundamental difference, but, it’s not my story anymore. It’s somebody else’s story, and Rian needed me to be a certain way to make the ending effective.”
Hamill was very disappointed when he found out that his character, Luke Skywalker, had been hiding for so many years. He further explained that he had a hard time accepting but admitted that the film’s director, Rian Johnson, was the right man for the job.
