Mark Hamill's Pre-Release Warnings About Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi

Before The Last Jedi even hit theaters, Mark Hamill was doing everything in his power to warn audiences about where the character was headed. He launched what amounted to his own one-man press tour of brutal honesty, telling anyone and everyone how much he disagreed with the direction Rian Johnson took his character.

That disagreement spilled out in public in one of the most memorable ways possible. Sitting next to Johnson at South by Southwest, Hamill quoted the film's own line back at him, "Let the past die. Kill it if you have to." before turning to Johnson and adding, "You're doing a pretty good job." Obviously, Hamill hated it.

Hamill Told Rian Johnson He Disagreed With Virtually Every Decision About Luke

Hamill didn't stop at a single public jab. He told Johnson directly that he fundamentally disagreed with virtually every decision Johnson had made about his character.

His biggest issue came down to one core idea: Luke Skywalker wouldn't give up. Hamill argued that if Luke had made a mistake, he would try to right that wrong. Maybe he would take a year to regroup and process what happened, but he wouldn't run away and leave everyone else to deal with the consequences. That, to Hamill, was simply not who the character was.

Johnson didn't really care what Hamill had to say. He ignored Hamill's feedback and proceeded with his vision for the character anyway.

Hamill Said He Had to Pretend He Was Playing "Jake Skywalker" Instead of Luke

To his credit, Hamill ultimately accepted that Johnson was the writer and director and promised to do his best to realize Johnson's vision for the film. That acceptance came with a very specific mental trick. Hamill said that to actually play the part as written, he had to stop thinking of the character as Luke Skywalker and instead pretend he was playing someone else entirely.

He jokingly called this version of the character "Jake Skywalker," because to him, this simply wasn't Luke.

From a Symbol of Hope to a Broken, Cynical Hermit

For decades, Luke Skywalker stood as the ultimate symbol of hope in the Star Wars saga, the guy who looked at the most evil man in the galaxy and still saw good in him. Instead of that hopeful figure, the film turned Luke into a broken, cynical hermit.

That shift went as far as having Luke contemplate murdering his own nephew in his sleep.