Back in the summer of 2014, a rumour emerged from Birth.Movies.Death suggesting that the then-titled Star Wars: Episode VII would begin with a shot of Luke Skywalker’s severed hand and lightsaber floating through space before landing on a planet. Of course, as we all know, that opening was absent from Star Wars: The Force Awakens; however, Mark Hamill has now confirmed to The Sun that an early draft of the script did begin with that sequence:
“I can tell you now that in the original opening shot of 7, the first thing that came into frame was a hand with a lightsaber, a severed hand that enters the atmosphere, and then the hand and bone burns away and goes sticking into the surface of Jakku, and this alien hand comes in, don’t know if it was Maz but it was an alien hand who takes the lightsaber way, and then the movie proceeds as you see it,” said Hamill, who is currently reprising the role of Luke Skywalker for Star Wars: Episode VIII.
We give Birth.Movies.Death plenty of stick here on Flickering Myth for their rumour-mongering, but hats off to them on this one, as they were right on the money.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens 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.
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https://youtu.be/b7Ozs5mj5ao?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
Originally published May 4, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
