Luke Skywalker’s adventures as a young man bullseyeing womp rats and picking up power converters could actually become a standalone movie. Mark Hamill has made suggestive comments that a film about his Star Wars alter-ego’s younger days might happen.
On Thursday, Mark Hamill appeared on Good Morning America to preview his return as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. While he didn’t reveal anything we haven’t heard already about the upcoming movie, he did — in a roundabout way — imply there could possibly be a young Luke Skywalker movie somewhere on the distant Tatooine horizon. And it’s all connected to fielding questions about Sebastian Stan, best known for his role as Bucky Barnes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
After Stan delivered a tongue-in-cheek video greeting in which he called Hamill “dad,” Hamill was asked if he would be open to Stan playing a young version of Luke. Here’s how he responded.
“He doesn’t need me, he’s an accomplished actor, he can get in there on his own. And I shouldn’t put my thumb on the scale because it’s not my choice it’s Disney and Lucasfilm and I don’t want to cut short any other potential young Lukes…but I’d play his father any day.”
What’s interesting about Mark Hamill’s response is that he almost takes the existence of a young Luke Skywalker film project as a given. When asked if Stan was a contender to play Luke, Hamill said, “Definitely.”
Obviously, fans probably shouldn’t read too much into these comments, but Hamill’s attitude toward the casting of a young Luke seems different now than it was earlier this year. In July, Hamill said he didn’t think a film about Luke’s days before Star Wars: A New Hope would work because it would be “boring.”
However, the fact that Hamill is trying to be neutral on such a casting seems to suggest that, on some level, he’s aware that Lucasfilm could cast a young version of Luke Skywalker at any time.
If we assume Lucasfilm is interested in casting another actor to play Luke Skywalker as a younger man, it doesn’t necessarily mean that actor would play Luke pre-A New Hope. After all, there are three decades between Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, meaning someone could possibly play Luke in a standalone film set during that time. Young Luke Skywalker only means younger than Luke Skywalker is in the current films.
And if a new actor does play Luke, then it seems like Stan has the seal of approval from the original interstellar farm boy himself.
The Last Jedi is out everywhere on December 15. Follow all of Inverse’s coverage of the film right here.
