"They don’t need Luke anymore"- When Mark Hamill made his feelings clear about reprising his role in Star Wars

Mark Hamill is, and perhaps always will be, best known as Luke Skywalker, the protagonist of the original Star Wars trilogy, a movie series that remains one of the greatest achievements in sci-fi even now. Of course, Star Wars has grown so much since Hamill's appearance in the first movie back in 1977 that it now has spinoffs of spinoffs and many other parallel franchises.

Luke Skywalker, however, remained relevant well into 2017 when he appeared in Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi. But beyond that, Mark Hamill thinks that the franchise does not need the character anymore. He did make an appearance in The Mandalorian as an awkwardly de-aged version of Luke, but the actor made his feelings clear about playing Luke Skywalker in a 2023 interview with CBS News.

Hamill had said:

"Well, you never say never, but I just don’t see any reason to,...Let me put it that way: I mean, they have so many stories to tell, they don’t need Luke anymore. I had my time, and that’s good. But that’s enough."

In another interview with Esquire in 2023, the actor further made his stance clear on returning as Luke Skywalker. The veteran actor even suggested that if the franchise did indeed want to tell the story of Luke again, they could go for an age-appropriate actor to take his place.

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"They could get an age-appropriate actor"- Mark Hamill on telling more stories of Luke Skywalker

Star Wars will never forget the contribution of Mark Hamill, but at 73, he is hardly the most capable actor to take on the role of Luke, something that the actor acknowledges, too. Moreover, with the expansion of the Star Wars universe, there are so many stories to tell that they would perhaps not have to include Luke at all.

Elaborating on this in a May 2023 interview with Esquire, Mark Hamill said:

"People say, ‘Oh, now you’re going to be able to do a whole series of Luke post-‘Return of the Jedi.’ I said, ‘I don’t think so,'....First of all, they don’t need to tell those stories, but if they do, they could get an age-appropriate actor."

Just as Hamill had said, Star Wars did indeed expand into many other stories that have all received quite great acclaim from fans and critics. Shows like Acolyte and Andor have opened up more possibilities in the existing Star Wars universe, and there are avenues to do much more.

The franchise is still growing, and sometimes at a magnanimous pace. So there always remains a possibility of seeing things that we haven't so far. As for Luke, Leia (Carrie Fisher), and Han Solo (Harrison Ford), perhaps their chapter is best closed at a time when it still makes sense.

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While Mark Hamill has bid farewell to the character of Luke Skywalker and seems unlikely to ever appear in Star Wars again, the actor is far from done in other projects. He has remained active in recent years, both in television and movies, with his most recent role coming in The Life of Chuck, which was released last year.

His upcoming projects include The Long Walk and The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants.