Nearly five full years ago, the world lost Carrie Fisher, the actress who played Princess Leia Organa in the Star Wars film series, among her many other accomplishments. Naturally there was an outpouring of tributes to the late actress at the time, and they continue half a decade later. Case in point, Mark Hamill, who acted opposite Fisher as Luke Skywalker, wrote some sweet words to commemorate her birthday.
Carrie Fisher was born on October 21, 1956, making her five years younger than Mark Hamill. To celebrate what would have been her 65th birthday, Mark Hamill shared an amusing photo on Twitter of him with Fisher back in the Original Trilogy Star Wars days:
Happy Birthday to a very special someone who was never not fun & always highly tolerant of my juvenile on-set high jinks... even when she wasn't in the mood. #CarrieOnForever ❤️. . pic.twitter.com/ehg7v55FS8October 21, 2021
While Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa wouldn’t learn they were siblings until Return of the Jedi, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher shared a brother/sister-like relationship throughout their time together on the Original Trilogy, including moments where the former got rather juvenile with the latter. The above photo follows the one Hamill posted last year for Fisher’s birthday, which showed the two of them adorably touching noses. Back in February, Hamill also shared a funny story about Fisher when they were working on The Empire Strikes Back, and in June, he congratulated the late actress for getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Although Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill returned for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, they didn’t cross paths on screen, with Leia instead reuniting with Harrison Ford’s Han Solo, while Luke Skywalker simply made a silent cameo at the end of the movie. Fortunately, Fisher and Hamill shared a little bit of screen time in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, with Luke Force-projecting himself to Crait and sharing some words with his sister before going outside to confront Kylo Ren. The Last Jedi was one of the last movies Fisher ever shot, with it coming out about a year after her death.
However, unused footage of Carrie Fisher from The Force Awakens was repurposed for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, allowing Leia Organa to be involved with both the final Sequel Trilogy movie and the conclusion to the Skywalker Saga. One of Episode IX’s final shots also has Luke and Leia together as Force ghosts watching over Rey on Tatooine, which I’m sure touched Mark Hamill when he saw it. While that marked the end of both those characters’ stories, naturally there will still plenty of opportunities in the years to follow along with them in their earlier years in novels, comic book series and more.
Mark Hamill was fortunate enough to get to reprise Luke Skywalker in The Mandalorian Season 2 finale, which saw the Jedi five years after the events of Return of the Jedi arriving in nick of time to cut down some dark troopers and pick up Grogu to be properly trained in the ways of the Force. Whether Hamill will return as Luke in some other fashion down the proverbial road, or play/voice another character, remains to be seen, but as always, keep your eyes locked on CinemaBlend for the latest and greatest news concerning upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows.
