Mark Hamill is giving his thoughts at Star Wars Celebration on how he would have preferred Luke Skywalker to return in Episode VII - The Force Awakens. Friday was the biggest day yet for fans at the convention in Orlando, where Hamill and fellow cast and crew members from Episode VIII - The Last Jedi revealed details about the film. They also debuted the first trailer for The Last Jedi, the highly anticipated eighth chapter in the Skywalker family saga.

Of course, Hamill was used sparingly in The Force Awakens, appearing for about a minute at the conclusion when Rey (Daisy Ridley) finds the reclusive Jedi master in a remote island location. While Luke doesn’t speak, and gives Rey a look of reluctance as she holds out his lightsaber hilt to him, the scene set the tone for the welcome return of The Force in The Last Jedi.

But in an interview on the red carpet after The Last Jedi panel with Fandango’s Erik Davis, Hamill says he would have introduced Luke much earlier in The Force Awakens. He says he imagined rushing to Leia’s aid in an attempt to save Han from Kylo Ren, only to find themselves in the same situation as Rey, Finn and Chewbacca were in the film. Hamill says, “We’re too late to save him, but (are) witnesses.” Hamill believes that such a scenario would have carried “so much emotional resonance into the next film” if he and Leia would have witnessed the death instead of “two characters that’ve know him, what, 20 minutes?”

Here’s @HamillHimself on the Luke Skywalker/Han Solo reunion he wanted to see in #TheForceAwakens #SWCO pic.twitter.com/W3H4qiFpf8— ErikDavis (@ErikDavis) April 14, 2017

While Hamill’s ideas seem to make sense in the context of the story, he ultimately deferred to the final judgment of The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams and The Last Jedi helmer Rian Johnson.

For the time being, it appears that Johnson is making all the right moves, given the rapturous response to The Last Jedi trailer. For one, Luke speaks, and not all appears to be sweetness and light in the world of the Jedi after Rey discovers him. The middle part of the new trilogy appears to have very dark overtones, and the ominous feel points toward an Empire Strikes Back-type of film. Whether Hamill’s new suggestions for implemented or not in The Last Jedi, he most certainly has to be proud that he’s a part of it.

“I still [think] it was a great missed opportunity, but, listen, as I’ve told J.J. and I’ve told Rian, ‘I have so many really terrible ideas that I’d like to share with you, because out of 100, maybe you’ll find one you kind of like.’ After [The Last Jedi] comes out, I’m making a list of some of the more outrageous things I suggested. Because I look back now and go, ‘What was I thinking?’”

Next: Star Wars: The Last Jedi Teaser Trailer Breakdown

Source: Erik Davis

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