Star Wars' Mark Hamill hints at Luke Skywalker's Episode 9 return

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We've got a couple more years of Star Wars films to enjoy (hopefully) before we get to 2019's Episode 9 including Rogue One, the Han Solo spin-off, and Star Wars 8. The latter film is now a couple of weeks into post-production and will feature much more screen time for Mark Hamill - who was only seen briefly in The Force Awakens - and now it looks like we'll be seeing more of his Luke Skywalker beyond Episode 8 too.

The actor took to his Twitter account to share a clip of himself shaving his beard, and while the video makes for humorous viewing it's the accompanying caption that's worth talking about: "Haven't seen my chin since May '15, so #FarewellFacialFur & #ByeByeBeard (at least til #EpisodeIX)".

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As The Force Awakens recently illustrated the Star Wars franchise is not averse to killing off big characters, but Hamill's tweet seems to be a pretty big hint that Skywalker survives Episode 8. With that said, Jedi Masters have appeared as Force ghosts in the Star Wars universe before, so this video may not necessarily mean there's no chance of Skywalker meeting a sticky end next year. Time will tell...

Directed by Rian Johnson and starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Laura Dern, Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Gwendoline Christie, and Benicio del Toro, Star Wars: Episode 8 opens in cinemas on December 15, 2017.

Images: Disney/Mark Hamill

Amon Warmann
Amon Warmann

Amon is a contributing editor and columnist for Empire magazine, but is also a Film and TV writer for GamesRadar+, Total Film, and others. He has also written for NME, Composer Mag, and more, along with being a film critic for TalkSport. He is also the co-host of the Fade to Black Podcast, and a video mashup creator. Can also do a pretty good Bane impersonation.