The Star Wars line Mark Hamill “begged” George Lucas to cut has been revealed
An old interview with the Luke Skywalker actor has been unearthed, revealing a funny behind-the-scenes story
We’ll be getting to hear Luke Skywalker speak for the first time in decades this December as he returns for Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (having previously appeared silently in 2015’s The Force Awakens) – but now an old video has been unearthed revealing some original Star Wars dialogue that actor Mark Hamill was not so keen to deliver.
Well, one line in particular, written by franchise creator George Lucas, which the star apparently blanched at during the filming of the first movie in 1977.
“I remember that there was one line that I just begged him to take out of the screenplay, and he finally did,” Hamill said on a 1977 edition of The Tonight Show, recently rediscovered by The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision blog.
“Boy, I’ll never forget it as long as I live. I sometimes dream about this line.”
Curious? Well, if you go to the video at 3.43 below, you can see Hamill deliver it in character, and see whether or not you agree that it was better off cut…
Apparently, the line would have appeared at a point when Han Solo (Harrison Ford) was advocating a retreat from Imperial foes, and saw Luke Skywalker utter these immortal words:
“But we can’t turn back! Fear’s their greatest defence, I doubt if the actual security there’s any greater than it was on [a planet name we can’t quite make out] and what there is is most likely directed towards a large-scale assault.”
“And I thought, ‘who talks like this George?’” Hamill recalled. “This is really not fair, because you know we’re the ones who are gonna get vegetables thrown at us. Not you!”
Fingers crossed Mark’s a bit happier with his dialogue in The Last Jedi later this year – we do know he at least likes the title so far.
Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi will be released in UK cinemas on 15th December
Authors
Huw Fullerton is a Commissioning Editor for Radio Times magazine, covering Entertainment, Comedy and Specialist Drama.
