There are still a great number of unanswered questions after the final Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer, and one of those is "Where the &?#! is Luke Skywalker?????" Mark Hamill hasn't been seen in any of the promos, which has led to some pretty far-out rumors. But one that has actually gained some traction and is beginning to seem more plausible is that Luke may have joined the Dark Side, which is why he's been hidden. Sound crazy? Well, Hamill would disagree with you.
Back in the mid-2000s Jon Favreau hosted an IFC Channel show called Dinner for Five, and it was pretty great. Basically it was actors, directors, whatever sitting around talking and eating around the dinner table. Hamill is featured in one episode from 2005 and in it he makes the case for an evil Luke Skywalker and why that would be interesting. Want to know who else was part of that little roundtable? J.J. Abrams. D'oh!!
Hamill: “As an actor that would be more fun to play. I just thought that’s the way it was going from when we finished [Empire Strikes Back] … I’ll have to come back, but it will be I have Han Solo in my crosshairs, and I’ll be about to kill him or about to kill the Princess or about to kill somebody that we care about. It’s an old cornball movie, like World War II movies.”
So this is hardly proof of anything, but do you honestly think Hamill and Abrams haven't talked about it? Of course they have. And let's not forget that Abrams took over the screenplay from Michael Arndt fairly early on, meaning he was in the perfect position to make this happen. Perhaps he's serving as a mentor of sorts to Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), who we know has a fascination with Darth Vader and the Skywalker bloodline.
Mull it over, and of course share your thoughts. Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens December 18th.
