We’re still waiting to hear confirmation on the reports that Harrison Ford is locked in for a return as Han Solo in Disney’s forthcoming sequel Star Wars: Episode VII, but at this point it’s starting to look increasingly likely that the new trilogy will include several familiar faces from the original Star Wars trilogy. In fact, I’d go as far as to say it’s a given, especially considering the latest comments from Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill.
“They’re talking to us,” Hamill told Entertainment Tonight. “George [Lucas] wanted to know whether we’d be interested. He did say that if we didn’t want to do it, they wouldn’t cast another actor in our parts – they would write us out. … I can tell you right away that we haven’t signed any contracts. We’re in the stage where they want us to go in and meet with Michael Arndt, who is the writer, and Kathleen Kennedy, who is going to run Lucasfilm. Both have had meetings set that were postponed — on their end, not mine. They’re more busy than I am.”
Presumably by “us”, Hamill is referring to himself and Carrie Fisher, who portayed Luke’s twin sister Princess Leia, both of whom met with George Lucas prior to Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm, where they were told that new sequel trilogy was in the works. However, Hamill would like to see an even bigger reunion before committing himself fully to the sequel: “I’d want to make sure of is are we going to have the whole gang back? Is Carrie and Harrison and Billy Dee Williams [Lando Calrissian] and Anthony Daniels [C-3PO, everybody that’s around from the original [returning]? I want to make sure that everybody’s on board here, rather than just one.”
Hamill then went on to discuss his hopes for the sequel, which is set to be directed by J.J. Abrams (Star Trek Into Darkness): “I’m assuming, because I haven’t talked to the writers, that these movies would be about our offspring — like my character would be sort of in the Obi-Wan range [as] an influential character. … When I found out [while making the original trilogy] that ultimate good news/bad news joke – the good news is there’s a real attractive, hot girl in the universe; the bad news is she’s your sister – I thought, ‘Well, I’m going to wind up like Sir Alec Guinness. I’m going to be a lonely old hermit living out in some kind of desert igloo with a couple of robots.'”
“I said to George that I wanted to go back to the way it was, in the sense that ours was much more carefree and lighthearted and humorous – in my opinion, anyway,” stated Hamill, comparing the Original Trilogy to the CG-heavy prequels. “I hope they find the right balance of CGI with practical effects [in Episode VII]. I love props, I love models, miniatures, matte paintings — I’m sort of old school. I think if you go too far in the direction of CGI it winds up looking like just a giant video game, and that’s unfortunate. … If they listen to me at all, it’ll be, ‘Lighten up and go retro with the way it looks.'”
Be sure to check out the rest of the article over at ET, where Hamill goes on to discuss potential Star Wars spin-offs, including the rumoured Han Solo origin story.
Originally published February 20, 2013. Updated November 29, 2022.
