Mark Hamill Shot Scenes as Luke Starkiller in STAR WARS and He Hated the Luke Skywalker Name Change

Before Star Wars fans came to know and love Mark Hamill as the iconic Jedi Knight, the character of Luke Skywalker almost had a very different name: Luke Starkiller, and Hamill wasn’t exactly thrilled when George Lucas swapped it out.

During a recent appearance on This Morning, Hamill revealed that the Starkiller name had been around long enough that they actually shot scenes using it.

"It stuck for so long that we shot the scene, 'I'm Luke Starkiller I'm here to rescue you.’ And they came back the next week, and I said, 'Why are we doing that scene again?' They said, 'Oh, they've changed your name.' I said, 'To what?' And they said, 'To Skywalker.'"

Hamill went on to explain why the switch rubbed him the wrong way at the time.

"And now, you've gotten so used to the other [name], and plus, let's face it, Luke could use a little machoing up with his name. I said, it sounded like Luke Flyswatter. I hated it, I just hated it. Because for four months, that's all it was."

While Luke Starkiller never made it to the big screen, the name hasn’t disappeared entirely from Star Wars lore. It was repurposed for Darth Vader’s apprentice Galen Marek (also known as Starkiller) in the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed games, and later used again for Starkiller Base in The Force Awakens.

As for Hamill, he's stepping into a new kind of role this fall in the upcoming Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk, where he plays the story's main antagonist, the Major. The film hits theaters on September 12.

Meanwhile, Star Wars returns to theaters with The Mandalorian & Grogu, marking the franchise's first big screen adventure since The Rise of Skywalker in 2019.