Mark Hamill wanted Luke Skywalker to go to the Dark Side – and he told J.J. Abrams about it

With all of the talk of Luke Skywalker being a bad guy in Star Wars: The Force Awakens [including Luke Owen’s theory that he’s actually Kylo Ren], The AV Club have unearthed this tremendously coincidental video.

Filmed ten years ago, Dinner for Five on IFC featured directors and actors sitting around and talking about their projects. In an episode featuring Mark Hamill and future Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams, Hamill talks about the rumoured Star Wars TV series (which never happened) that he and fellow guest Kevin Smith were rumoured to be working on. Smith asks Hamill if he wanted to go ‘full Anakin’ and turn to the Dark Side following Return of the Jedi, something Hamill seemed totally on board with the idea.

“I pitched that to George,” Hamill responded. “As an actor, that would be more fun to play. I thought that was where it was going. I thought that would be my pivotal moment – I’ll have to come back, but I thought it would be, I have Han Solo in my crosshairs, and I’m about to kill him, or about to kill the Princess, about to kill somebody that we care about. You know, it’s an old cornball movie.”

Watch the episode below, the Star Wars chat starts around eleven minutes in.

You’ve got to wonder if Hamill and J.J. Abrams returned to this conversation while making plans for Star Wars: The Force Awakens…

SEE ALSO: Follow all of our Star Wars coverage here

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set for release on December 17th in the UK and December 18th in the States and sees J.J. Abrams directing returning stars Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Kenny Baker (R2-D2), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and Tim Rose (Admiral Ackbar), in addition to Adam Driver (Girls), Oscar Isaac (A Most Violent Year), Andy Serkis (Avengers: Age of Ultron), Domhnall Gleeson (Ex Machina), John Boyega (Attack the Block), Daisy Ridley (Silent Witness), Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones), Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave), Ken Leung (Lost), Miltos Yerolemou (Game of Thrones), Max von Sydow (The Exorcist), Jessica Henwick (Spirit Warriors), Christina Chong (24: Live Another Day), Simon Pegg (Star Trek) and newcomers Crystal Clarke and Pip Andersen.