Forty years after Mark Hamill’s first appearance as Luke Skywalker, the actor is reportedly saying his final goodbyes to his iconic role when Star Wars: Episode IX makes its debut in December. Fans have been promised a fulfilling end to the Skywalker Saga but are growing impatient about the silence surrounding the movie thus far. It’s just eight months away; we don’t have a title and where is that damn trailer?
As a Twitter regular, Mark Hamill is always having fun with fans and pulling some Jedi mind tricks every so often to give us something to talk about while we wait (such as getting us emotional about the Han and Luke reunion that never was). He doesn’t mind playing around with the Disney/Lucasfilm studio higher-ups either, since he has little left to lose, as he recently said this on Jimmy Kimmel Live...
Well, you know I love driving the Disney executives crazy. 'Cause what are they gonna do, fire me? I'm in that really calming lull between the time after you make the movie and before it comes out. They don't want you to say anything. And I'm good at that. But like I say on my Twitter account, people are constantly saying 'When's the trailer dropping? What's the title?' Like they're gonna -- they wouldn't tell me that. I play dumb. I say, 'They made another Star Wars movie?' Nobody tells me anything.
There you have it! Stop harassing Mark Hamill, all the answers will come in time! Being sworn to secrecy doesn’t stop the actor from stirring up the Disney executives a little bit, though, because this movie is said to be his last journey as Luke anyway. Jimmy Kimmel did quip that they could cut off his hand – perhaps to save on Luke’s robo arm CGI? Nah, he’ll be fine!
This “no worries” attitude reminds me a bit of Samuel L. Jackson’s approach to his role of Nick Fury in the MCU, which is also subject to tons of secrecy. Jackson recently messed with press and fans by telling them his recent co-star Captain Marvel could time travel, before admitting he had made it up.
Jimmy Kimmel brought up the actor’s most recent joke: the reveal of the Star Wars: Episode IX trailer – which was a literal picture of his trailer on set instead of the highly-anticipated first look at the holiday release. Hamill talked about his kids’ reactions to his clever social media post with these words:
My kids are rolling their eyes going 'That's such a dad joke.' And I'm going 'What's a dad joke?' They said 'Well you know obvious, full of puns.' My son Nathan said 'Not funny.'
While the post certainly incited the same kind of “har har har” laughs fans might give to jokes from their dads, it’s nice to see the actor have fun with the fans and tease their excitement a bit.
Star Wars: Episode IX officially wrapped filming last month, and while we still don’t know just when the trailer will be released, our hopeful suspicions point to April, to accompany the release of Avengers: Endgame.
