Star Wars: The Last Jedi is finally – finally! – screening across theaters near and far, and it certainly hasn’t taken long for the Lucasfilm sequel to make a huge dent at the global box office. That being said, those numbers aren’t exactly translating into universal love for the latest chapter in the Skywalker saga. In fact, Episode VIII is practically causing a war between two sides of the fandom.
While half love the subversive and shocking pic, the other half hate it for betraying everything we know about the franchise so far. In particular, some would say the disillusioned, depressed portrayal of Luke Skywalker in the film doesn’t gel with the character from the original trilogy. Surprisingly, one of the people who feel this way is Mark Hamill himself. Or at least, he did.
Initially, he had some problems with the pic, as revealed in an interview with The New York Times in October, in which he explained how his understandable attachment to Luke left him shocked at his situation in The Last Jedi.
“That’s the hard part. You don’t want to admit how possessive you’ve become. There are times where you go, ‘Really? That’s what they think of Luke? I’m not only in disagreement – I’m insulted.’ But that’s the process and you thrash it all out.”
After having seen the film, however, Hamill changed his tune, saying:
“I’ve had trouble accepting what Rian saw for Luke, but again, I have to say, having seen the movie, I was wrong.”
Of course, many took this to mean that Disney had a stern talk with Mr. Hamill and instructed him to keep his opinions to himself. According to the actor though, that’s simply not the case. Taking to Twitter once again to clear the air, he said:
I’m really enjoying the conversations about #TheLastJedi both Pro AND Con. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion-but let me make one thing perfectly clear: Neither @Disney or #Lucasfilm has complained or told me what to say- EVER. #PeriodEndOfStory
So, where does the truth lie? That’s hard to say, but probably somewhere in the middle. You can imagine that Disney wouldn’t be too happy with Hamill’s initial comments and most likely did say something to him. But at the same time, it’s entirely possible that once the actor saw Episode VIII for himself, he genuinely did change his mind.
Either way, what Hamill has said certainly hasn’t hurt the business that the film’s been doing as of late. Now in its third weekend, Star Wars: The Last Jedi continues to be the biggest movie in the galaxy, and without any notable competition in its path, Rian Johnson’s wondrous sequel is expected to reign supreme for weeks to come, before finishing its theatrical run in the ballpark of $1.6 billion.
