Mark Hamill Explains Why a Deleted Scene in STAR WARS Was So Important To Luke Skywalker's Character Development
Mark Hamill recently opened up about George Lucas’ Star Wars: A New Hope and how he thinks a scene that was deleted from the movie was important to his character Luke Skywalker. To this day, it still bothers Hamill that the scene was deleted as it would have added to the refinement of Luke Skywalker's beliefs.
While a guest on The Russo Brothers’ new podcast, Hamill opened up about the scene. The scene in question features Skywalker watching a battle taking above his home planet of Tatooine. He runs over to share what he’s seen with some friends, and talks with his friend Biggs, who has been enlisted by the Empire, but is looking to jump ship and join the Rebel Alliance instead. Hamill says:
"There a couple of things that are good for the character. Number one, he is ridiculed roundly by his peers. So he's not particularly cool or popular. Koo Stark is the only other female actor in the movie and she calls me 'Wormie'. So I am not popular.
"And then I bump into Biggs Darklighter, played by Garrick Hagon, and I go 'Wow!' You can see we're good friends. He's dressed in an Imperial uniform and I'm going, 'Wow! That's so great! I can't wait until I can get off the dump of a planet and join with you.' And he takes me outside and says, 'Luke, as soon as I get the chance, I am going to jump ship and join the Rebels.'
"The only reason that is interesting to me is that Luke has no political persuasion. He thinks it's great he is in the Empire! Luke wants to be in the Empire if it will get him off the farm! So he is completely pure in that he is not politically motivated in any way, shape or form."
That is super interesting, and it definitely sheds a different light on the character. We can look at Luke in a totally different way because of this. The idea that Luke would have considered joining the Empire just to escape being on a farm is fascinating to me!
Think about it, had he actually joined The Empire, his relationship with his dad Darth Vader and his sister Leia would have been a hell of a lot different!
The deleted scene was set to be intercut with Princess Leia's ship being taken over by Darth Vader, but because Lucas felt the pacing was off, he ultimately decided to delete it. I kind of wish he would have kept the scene in, and it’s interesting to me that out of all the changes he made to Star Wars over the years, he never put that scene back in.
You can watch the deleted scenes from A New Hope below: