Should Mark Hamill write the next Star Wars trilogy? He's excited for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and all the speculation it has already spawned, but he has been open with his frustrations with the sequel trilogy -- including that we never got a real Luke/Leia/Han reunion. Turns out, he had an idea that could've at least partially given fans (and himself) that gift before the end of the Skywalker Saga.
Mark Hamill said he pitched his idea to J.J. Abrams when they were making Episode VII, The Force Awakens, as an alternate way for Luke to make a surprise late-in-the-film appearance while still managing to get the OG gang together again.
Everyone talks about the shock of realizing that, on Force Awakens, I don't come in until the last page. A bigger shock to me was them killing Han Solo before Luke could ever see his best friend again. I mean, it might be selfishly motivated, but I said, 'Holy cow, that's a real missed opportunity!' Even having the three of us together, even briefly.
So Mark Hamill told THR what he had previously pitched to The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker director J.J. Abrams:
I pitched [J.J.] Abrams on the idea of, 'You can still have me come in at the very end, but how about this? How about Leia's trying to contact me telepathically, she gets frustrated because there's no answers, so she rushes to the new Death Star. And she almost gets there but she gets stopped by two Stormtroopers and, just before she's abducted, one Stormtrooper turns to the other one, blows him away, pulls off his helmet and says "Hi, sis, I'm here to rescue you."' I said, 'It'll blow the roof off the joint!' I'm still in it at the very end. And I think it's more effective to have people who have more of a history with Han Solo witness his dead, and be unable to stop it -- his wife, the mother of his child, his best friend -- instead of two characters who have known him what, 20 minutes?
Well, you'll get no argument from me. J.J. Abrams has already taken heat for The Force Awakens showing Leia hug Rey after Han's death instead of Han's other BFF Chewbacca. 'Cause it's true, Rey barely knew Han Solo. It would've had more impact to see Luke, Leia, and Chewie's emotional reactions. Abrams has shared regrets about the blocking of that particular scene, since it did come across as "a slight" to Chewie, which was not intended.
So it sounds like Mark Hamill had issues with both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, since he has also been candid with his frustration on the direction of Luke's storyline in Star Wars: Episode VIII.
Even if Episode IX somehow cobbles a Skywalker reunion together, it's too late for it to have the same kind of impact it could've had in The Force Awakens. Han Solo was killed by his son Ben/Kylo in The Force Awakens, Luke died in The Last Jedi, and Leia actress Carrie Fisher died in real life. Luke is still returning somehow in The Rise of Skywalker -- perhaps the title is a hint there -- and Leia will be shown in previously unused footage. But Star Wars lost its chance to get the original trio back.
Mark Hamill recently posted a photo hugging Harrison Ford, showing his own version of a Luke/Han reunion. He's really laying it on thick, but the frustration is shared by fans. That said, unlike Hamill, we as fans don't know what The Rise of Skywalker has in store in terms of Skywalker family reunions. The teaser trailer already showed Carrie Fisher's Leia in another mid-hug moment, but maybe we can hope for even more from J.J. Abrams, who has learned from his experience on The Force Awakens.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens in theaters December 20, as one of the many films to look forward to watching on the big screen in 2019.
