Think back to that Star Wars: The Force Awakens ending in 2015. I know, I know. It was a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. But the last shot of Rey having found Luke on Ahch-To made the eventual wait until the Jedi Master even spoke in Star Wars: The Last Jedi an especially excruciating one. If Mark Hamill had his way, though, Luke would not only have spoken a lot sooner, but the Force Awakens ending would have been much more of a crowd-pleaser, bringing together Luke, Han Solo, and Leia for one final hurrah.
While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter for its Awards Chatter podcast, Hamill – who has been candid in the past about his disagreements with certain aspects of the recent trilogy – opened up about his elevator pitch to The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams.
“You can still have me come in at the very end,” Hamill outlines. “But how about this? Leia’s trying to contact me telepathically. She gets frustrated because there’s no answer so she rushes to the new Death Star [the Starkiller base]… and she almost gets there but she’s stopped by two Stormtroopers. Just before she’s abducted, one Stormtrooper turns to the other and blows him away, pulls off his helmet and says “Hi sis, I’m here to rescue you.”
Presumably, this would have taken place around the time Han Solo gets brutally killed by his son, Kylo Ren, as Hamill explains: “It would have been more effective for people who have a history with Han Solo to witness his death and be unable to stop it.”
So, no wordless cameo, no silent contemplation of Han’s death in The Last Jedi. Just one final reunion and a moment that, as Hamill puts it, “would have blown the roof off.”
Admit it, you kinda prefer this version, don’t you? Of course, Abrams rejected the idea and the rest is history – even if it wasn’t Hamill’s first choice.
