Mark Hamill needed a mountain guide to stop him, uhh, dying in his Star Wars: The Last Jedi Ahch-To scenes

Luke Skywalker didn’t just magically appear on that island in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Mark Hamill has to put the hours in for those Ahch-To scenes in, especially when it came to filming Star Wars: The Last Jedi. As it turns out, as revealed in an interview with our sister publication SFX magazine, he also had to do a fair amount of walking up inclines and cliffsides – with the added safety of having a mountain guide to stop him meeting a steep, untimely end.

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“When I first read the script, I thought they’d do it on green screen,” Hamill says. Not so, as he reveals: “Then they said they wanted to go to a real location…”

The Ahch-To scenes were filmed on the peak of Irish island Skellig Michael, which involved a fair amount of walking up steps and it was a killer on the legs for Hamill: “I said ‘How long are you allowing the crew to get up the hill.’ They said, ‘45 minutes.’ I said, ‘Give me an hour and a half.’ I had to stop every 100 steps because they’re not normal steps – they’re stone, and it’s up and up and it never ends.”

It could have been a killer for Hamill, too, if he wasn’t careful. Thankfully, a helping hand was provided as everyone went (way) above and beyond whilst filming, as Hamill explains, “They had this big mountain climber guide behind me to catch me in case I stumbled and fell. If I fall off the cliff and die, the insurance would go crazy – let’s face it, I’m an investment!”

For more tales of Mark Hamill’s trails on Ahch-To, be sure to pick up the latest issue of SFX magazine or subscribe so you never miss an issue.

Bradley Russell

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.