Mark Hamill Talks About Contentious STAR WARS Fandom and His "Bittersweet" Experience with The Latest Trilogy

Mark Hamill’s time as Luke Skywalker has come to an end. Chances are we’ll never see him play the role again, which is kind of sad considering a lot of fans would have liked to have seen his story play out a lot differently than what we got with the most recent trilogy.

During a recent interview with The Daily Beast, the actor was asked about the fans of the franchise and how they are now more divided than ever before. Hamill admits he’s surprised by how fandom has changed and he’s not sure when a clear split between certain sects of Star Wars fans actually happened:

"I don’t know when, over the period of time, fandom became so contentious. But people are really opinionated, and you can’t help but be opinionated yourself, because you’ve lived with the character so long. So whether it was on Episode VII, VIII or IX, I’d have disagreements, and I would say to whoever it was, ‘Well, I don’t know if that’s right.’ But everyone shares the same goal: you want to make the best movie you can."

The actor went on to talk about the latest trilogy and the new cast that filled it. He also expresses disappointment with his limited role in the story, and said the experience was bittersweet for him:

"I love the new cast. I think the characters are great and all the actors are just perfect. I wish I’d gotten to work with them more, obviously, because I was so isolated. But you know, I never expected to come back at all. It was bittersweet, but I was able to enjoy it from a different perspective than years ago when I was in my twenties. So it was just fun to be a part of it, and it was sad in a way, because I knew it would be the last time I’d ever play Luke."

As you know, Hamill seems to agree with many of the fans who didn’t care for how Luke Skywalker’s story was handled in the new films. One of the biggest mistakes of those movies was not reuniting Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia on screen. It’s crazy to me that they didn’t make that happen. You’d think that would have been a priority.

Oh, well. What’s done is done.