Watch Mark Hamill Discuss His Evil Luke Skywalker Pitch in DINNER FOR FIVE with JJ Abrams
Do you remember Jon Favreau's TV series Dinner For Five? I freakin' loved this show. Every week, Favreau brought together four actors, directors, screenwriters, and other talented individuals to sit around a table shoot the shit and eat dinner while they casually discuss the craft of acting, the entertainment business, movies, and more.
In one episode hosted by Kevin Smith that aired in 2005, the guests included Jason Lee, Stan Lee, Mark Hamill, and J.J. Abrams. I completely forgot about this episode, and it's currently making the internet rounds. Why? Because in this episode Hamill shares a story about how he pitched George Lucas the idea of Luke Skywalker turning to the Dark Side in Return of the Jedi. He went on to explain how he honestly thought that Luke was headed to the dark side after the events of The Empire Strikes Back. He also added it would have been "more fun to play" and that he had ideas for how Luke's Dark Side persona would be.
There's a lot of internet speculation going around right now that the reason why Luke Skywalker hasn't been present in any of the marketing material for the film is because he did turn bad. I seriously doubt there is any truth to that, but a lot of fans seem convinced. I personally think they just don't want to reveal the awesomeness of Skywalker yet.
I've included the episode below for you to watch, and you can skip to the 11:50 mark to hear Hamill talk about pitching evil Luke to Lucas and Abrams is just listening intently. I'm sure it never crossed Abrams' mind that he would be directing a Star Wars film ten years later.