As the star of the Original Trilogy, Mark Hamill has had the chance to work alongside some great actors over the course of his Star Wars career. But with the franchise becoming so sprawling, and him not even featuring in an entire trilogy, Hamill has still missed out on the opportunity to share scenes with many other talented performers over the years. And among those he regrets not interacting with the most are the stars of the just-completed Sequel Trilogy.
One fan asked Hamill on Twitter which Star Wars actor he would’ve loved to have worked with had he got the chance. The star singled out Peter Cushing, the esteemed British thespian who played Grand Moff Tarkin in A New Hope, before noting the tragedy of only getting to work with two out of the “fantastic” cast of the most recent films.
From Peter Cushing on, every single one of them. Imagine the fantastic Sequel Trilogy actors & only working with two of them! https://t.co/VohzBLnHzI
— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) January 26, 2020
Luke Skywalker’s disappearance in The Force Awakens meant that he was only paired with Daisy Ridley’s Rey at the end of the movie. In The Last Jedi, meanwhile, he again spent much of his time with the heroine before confronting Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren in the climax, while in The Rise of Skywalker, Luke’s Force Ghost returned to speak with Rey. In all those films, then, Hamill never got to interact with, say, John Boyega’s Finn or Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron.
Hamill has always been open about his wish that Luke had more screentime in the sequels. Memorably, he felt it was an oversight that Luke and Leia were not present for Han’s death in TFA. The star suggested that Luke should’ve come back earlier in the film and arrived on Starkiller Base in time to witness his old friend’s demise at the hands of his son. But obviously, that wasn’t to be.
A lot of fans would agree – probably with added anger and frustration – that Luke should’ve had more to do in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, but at least we got some great stuff between him, Ridley and Driver.