Mark Hamill explains why he believes Star Wars doesn't need Luke Skywalker any more. The actor most recently reprised his iconic role in last December's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, capping off a run of playing the character in six movies over the course of 42 years. The Rise of Skywalker served as a conclusion to not just Disney's sequel trilogy, but also the Skywalker saga as a whole, definitively ending the story that began with the original Star Wars film back in 1977 (which, of course, Hamill starred in).
Disney is putting the Star Wars movies on a self-imposed hiatus for a couple of years as they organize their upcoming slate, and when the property does return to the big screen, the studio will be kicking off a new era. While details about these movies are being kept under lock and key for the time being, the expectation is they will move the Star Wars films away from the Skywalker saga, exploring new corners and eras of the galaxy far, far away. Hamill himself knows the vast potential of the Star Wars mythos, and knows the franchise doesn't need him to stick around.
Speaking with EW, Hamill was asked about a possible return to Star Wars down the line, and it sounds like he has closed the book on this chapter of his life:
"Oh, I can't imagine that, no. I had a beginning, middle, and end. Those films gave me far more than I ever expected when we started out so it's never even occurred to me. My farewell was in Episode IX and it was bittersweet. I love all those people and I certainly have affection for George and the character he created. I'm full of gratitude for what it has given me and my career but I don't want to be greedy. There are still so many more stories to tell and so many great actors to tell them, they don't need me."
As much as fans enjoy seeing Hamill play Luke, most viewers would probably agree with Hamill's thoughts here. If Star Wars is to remain viable for Disney for years to come, it needs to expand its horizons now and get away from the familiar. Even some of the TV shows in the works for Disney+, like the Cassian Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi series, are tangentially connected to the Skywalker saga. Lucasfilm is making strides with the recently announced High Republic publishing initiative (which is set 200 years before The Phantom Menace), but there's still more they can do. Fortunately, they have a new Star Wars TV show set in a different era in the works, so that will likely be one of their first big tests of the post-Skywalker saga era. If that series becomes a massive hit a la The Mandalorian, Disney will be in business.
Like any long-running pop culture franchise, Star Wars is well-known for its classic iconography, so moving away from some of those elements has risk attached to it. Still, it'd arguably be worse for Star Wars if Lucasfilm continued to play things safe. Despite being a $1 billion box office hit, The Rise of Skywalker was the least profitable entry in the sequel trilogy, indicating viewers were growing somewhat tired of that narrative. The more positive responses to projects like The Mandalorian and Jedi: Fallen Order illustrates there is an appetite for new Star Wars stories that do interesting things with the mythos while also finding a balance with the familiar. Hopefully, whatever Star Wars movies and TV shows that come next find a way to pull that off and flourish.
Source: EW