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Credit: LucasfilmMark Hamill will return to voice Luke Skywalker in a Star Wars animated special (and so will the best villain the franchise has never seen).
Luke Skywalker is the most feared Jedi in the faraway galaxy. You only need to look at the expression on the Imperial Remnant officer Moff Gideon’s face in The Mandalorian Season 2 finale, “Chapter 16: The Rescue,” when the iconic hero boards his ship to rescue Grogu.
The arrival of Luke Skywalker (a de-aged Mark Hamill) shocked the entire fanbase and restored some good faith following the character’s incredibly divisive appearance in the sequel trilogy’s second installment, Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi (2017).
It’s hardly controversial to say that the 2017 film, and perhaps even the follow-up Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker (2019), ruined the character for countless fans. Fortunately, though, his many other appearances in the franchise outweigh the bad.
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Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker Appearances
Mark Hamill first picked up the lightsaber in Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope (1977), leading the action in George Lucas’ first galactic outing as the main hero, a young farmhand who becomes a Jedi Knight and one who’s preordained to bring “balance to the Force” against Sith Lord Darth Vader (James Earl Jones) and the evil Galactic Empire.
Before returning to play Luke Skywalker in the two sequels, Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983), Mark Hamill reprised his role in The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978) — but the less said about that, the better. Throughout the original trilogy, Luke Skywalker is joined by Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), C-3PO (Anthony Daniels), R2-D2 (Kenny Baker), Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), and Yoda (Frank Oz).
While Luke Skywalker has returned many times over the decades that followed Return of the Jedi across all forms of tie-in media (novels, comic books, video games, etc.), Mark Hamill went on an unofficial Star Wars hiatus. In fact, it took 32 years for him to return to the galaxy far, far away, and even then, it was only for the final scene in the sequel trilogy-opener Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens (2015), in which an older Luke is tracked down by budding Jedi Rey (Daisy Ridley) on the distant planet of Ahch-To.
In the next film, The Last Jedi, Luke is given a more prominent role, but unfortunately, it’s to his detriment. While promoting the sequel, Mark Hamill expressed his disagreement with the liberties director Rian Johnson had taken with Luke, explaining how he felt that the embittered portrayal was deeply at odds with the character who once saw good in his father, Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, despite how twisted by the dark side he had become.
Since then, Hamill returned to play a younger, New Republic-era Luke in The Mandalorian Season 2’s “Chapter 16: The Rescue” and in The Book of Boba Fett‘s “Chapter 6: From the Desert Comes a Stranger.” It’s been three years since we last saw him, but now, Mark Hamill is finally set to return as Luke Skywalker — just not in the way you might have imagined.
Mark Hamill Returns to Star Wars
Mark Hamill will reprise his role as the beloved character in an upcoming LEGO animated special titled LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy (2024).
In true LEGO Star Wars fashion, the animated parody features characters from all corners of the franchise’s extensive timeline. It even includes Darth Jar Jar (Binks), with Ahmed Best reprising his role to indulge a genuinely bizarre but oddly plausible long-running fan theory. Luke Skywalker can be seen in his Last Jedi form, sporting a dusty cloak and a beard.
Watch the trailer below, per the official Star Wars YouTube channel:
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This might not be how we’d prefer to see Mark Hamill don the robes again, but it’s still exciting to see the Star Wars icon play, dare we say, a version of Luke that will probably be more true to that of the original trilogy — even if he is made of CGI yellow bricks.
Unfortunately, Mark Hamill isn’t expected to return in the upcoming sequel trilogy-era film set 15 years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker that will see Daisy Ridley reprise her role as Rey Skywalker. While Luke dies at the end of The Last Jedi, he returns as a Force Ghost in the 2019 sequel. But in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last year, Hamill seemed to suggest he was done playing Luke, saying, “When I read [Episode] VIII, I knew it was over.”
When asked if he’d be returning as a Force Ghost in the new film, he said, “No, I don’t have any expectations of that happening.” Prior to that interview, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy told IGN that Luke’s future on the big screen is unknown, saying of the upcoming film, “I don’t know if we’ll spend a lot of time in flashbacks or [on] Force ghosts or things like that, but certainly, the spirit of what he [Luke] represents to her [Rey] is going to be significant.”
Per StarWars.com, here’s the description for LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy:
In LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy, the entire Star Wars galaxy gets completely mixed up when an ordinary nerf-herder, Sig Greebling (Gaten Matarazzo), unearths a powerful artifact called the Cornerstone from a hidden Jedi temple. He finds himself thrust into adventure in a new, wondrously wild and twisted version of the galaxy where good guys are bad, bad guys are good, and the fate of all depends on Sig becoming the hero who can put all the pieces back together.
LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy premieres on September 13 on Disney+.
The voice cast features Gaten Matarazzo (Sig Greebling), Tony Revolori (Dev Greebling), Bobby Moynihan (Jedi Bob), Marsai Martin (Yesi Scala), Michael Cusack (Servo), Ahmed Best (Darth Jar Jar), and Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker).
Are you excited about Mark Hamill’s return as Luke Skywalker? Let Inside the Magic know your thoughts in the comments down below!