Mark Hamill has voiced the Joker in a lot of different animated projects over the years. The gig started with Batman: The Animated Series and has continued more recently with projects like Batman: The Killing Joke and Justice League Action. Yet, to this day, Mark Hamill can remember a conversation with his agent – of all people – revealing she was disappointed the actor had landed the iconic role.
While speaking about voice work as part of Netflix’s lengthy and epic Dark Crystal panel, Mark Hamill revealed this gem of a story, which entails Mark Hamill both revealing his agent wished he hadn't nabbed the role and also that he is sometimes typecast as a villain now. In fact, in The Dark Crystal he plays The Scientist, a sadistic character with disregard for life outside the Skeksis.
To wit, here’s what Hamill said:
Yeah, I dunno how it happened, but somewhere between when I first played a certain berserk clown, I’ve become typecast as a villain in voiceover. It’s funny, because my agent was really disappointed. She said, ‘Oh, I wish you’d gotten Alfred.’ I said, ‘On Batman, you wish I’d got Alfred? What are you talking about?’ She goes, ‘Well, he’s in every episode.’ You know?
The actor went on to take a trip down memory lane, bringing up both his longtime relationship with Frank Oz, but also the Muppets prior to this new project from Netflix and the Jim Henson Company. He talked one thing he really has loved about voiceover as well, saying,
Hey listen, one thing I love about voiceover, because you can’t be seen, you’re liberated to make really bold choices you probably wouldn’t make if the camera was on you. So, like I said, I was just a Muppet addict the minute I saw them on the Ed Sullivan Show, they were just one of my favorite, favorite things in the world, and, you know, one of my career highlights to this day is being on The Muppet Show for the Star Wars episodes.
Those sitting in on The Dark Crystal panel had the privilege of seeing Mark Hamill and Taron Egerton’s new project in action, and two things are clear: The tone of this show is pretty dark and the look of Netflix’s upcoming original is both vivid and fantastical, the latter of which I suppose is good, given this is a fantasy series, after all.
*Related: Netflix's Dark Crystal Cast Has The Most Amazing Cast Ever. No Really. *
Of course, if you are a fan of the 1982 version of The Dark Crystal, you’ll see a lot that’s familiar too.
All in all, Mark Hamill might occasionally find it strange that he’s often tasked with voicing villains, particularly given his most famous role, Luke Skywalker, is and was a major hero in the Star Wars universe. Regardless, in the world of voiceover, he is much more well-known for villainous intent. In fact, he later went on to voice roles such as Hobgoblin in Spider-Man: The Animated Series and Fire Lord Azai in Avatar: The Last Airbender. That's not to mention the small role as Darth Bane in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Whether or not he loves the typecast, we doubt Alfred would have gotten him as far. (He's a little old for the prequel, after all.)
Catch Mark Hamill in (voice) action opposite Taron Egerton in The Dark Crystal, out on Netflix on August 30, 2019. To see what's streaming on Netflix sooner, check out our full schedule.
