The Star Wars: Episode VII rumours have hardly slowed at all since the announcement that Disney purchased Lucasfilm from Star Wars visionary George Lucas. Once J.J. Abrams was named director, one of the biggest topics for speculation was closed, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of rumours about spin-off films and original characters returning to debate the validity of. The news we have today falls in the latter category. Although we can’t confirm the reports that Mark Hamill will be back in his role as Luke Skywalker, we can confirm that Hamill is at least in talks for the role.
The news recently broke that Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford would be back for the new trilogy. In a recent interview, Hamill said that although nothing is set in stone, the three are indeed in talks for the roles. Check out what he had to say below.
George [Lucas] wanted to know whether we’d be interested. He did say that if we didn’t want to do it, they wouldn’t cast another actor in our parts – they would write us out. … I can tell you right away that we haven’t signed any contracts. We’re in the stage where they want us to go in and meet with Michael Arndt, who is the writer, and Kathleen Kennedy, who is going to run Lucasfilm. Both have had meetings set that were postponed — on their end, not mine. They’re more busy than I am.
I’m quite relieved to hear the three characters would be written out of the new films as opposed to recast. The main worry I have with a Han Solo spin-off film is how any actor could possibly step in and replicate the iconic character that Ford left such a lasting mark on. The fact that the characters are able to be written out makes it seem like they won’t play that large of a role, and the story will likely be focused on a younger generation. This also further points toward a story that takes place 40 years after the original trilogy.
Hamill says he hasn’t met with any of the writers, but he would speculate that the story revolves around the original characters’ offspring, with Luke taking more of an Obi-Wan role.
I’m assuming, because I haven’t talked to the writers, that these movies would be about our offspring — like my character would be sort of in the Obi-Wan range [as] an influential character. … When I found out [while making the original trilogy] that ultimate good news/bad news joke – the good news is there’s a real attractive, hot girl in the universe; the bad news is she’s your sister – I thought, ‘Well, I’m going to wind up like Sir Alec [Guinness]. I’m going to be a lonely old hermit living out in some kind of desert igloo with a couple of robots.'”
Although Luke is a Jedi Master, I’d say it’s fairly unlikely that Abrams is going to be consulting him for production techniques, but just in case Hamill gave his recommendation for the new film – he wants them to go retro with the look. Check out that full quote below.
I hope they find the right balance of CGI with practical effects. I love props, I love models, miniatures, matte paintings — I’m sort of old school. I think if you go too far in the direction of CGI it winds up looking like just a giant a video game, and that’s unfortunate. … If they listen to me at all, it’ll be, ‘Lighten up and go retro with the way it looks.'”
What do you think of Hamill and the others returning for Star Wars: Episode VII? Would you rather the film reverted to practical effects? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
