Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill Share Post-'Star Wars' Plans in 1983 David Letterman Interview
Do you sense a disturbance in the Force? Maybe that’s because May 25 will be the 40th anniversary of the original Star Wars’ release in theaters in 1977. To celebrate this auspicious occasion, we’ll be posting Star Wars stories all month, including choice vintage interviews, original videos, and some of our favorite pieces from years past. Just keep coming back here all month to see what’s happening in our galaxy.
When Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill finished filming Return of the Jedi, they naturally thought they were leaving their Star Wars days behind them. In separate interviews on Late Night with David Letterman in 1983, compiled in the YouTube video above, the two stars talked about their plans for the future, which didn’t include returning to the galaxy far, far away.
“I don’t think so — Han and I choosing what planet to live on and having a child that grows up having hair like that and so forth?” Fisher joked, when asked about the possibility of another sequel. “No, they were considering doing the prequels: one, two, and three. And I don’t know that they’re going to do that now. … Mr. Lucas is very tired.”
Hamill told Letterman that he was game for doing George Lucas’s “third trilogy,” which was then being planned for 2011, but he said that he didn’t see the Star Wars creator making a sequel anytime soon, for the same reason Fisher gave: “George is very, very tired.”
Little did either of the stars know that they’d be returning to their Star Wars roles 30 years down the road, in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi (and that Han and Leia would indeed have a child with impressive hair). In 1983, Hamill was starring in Amadeus on Broadway and told Letterman that he aspired to more challenging acting work, while Fisher didn’t announce any plans beyond appearing on the HBO family series Faerie Tale Theater. (“I’m just going to do princesses from now on,” she told the host.)
Of the two interviews, Fisher’s has more for Star Wars fans to chew on; she talked about a squib that caught fire on her arm while she was shooting Jedi, referred to the speeder bikes as “Harley Davidsons in space,” and made fun of merchandise like the Princess Leia shampoo bottle (a comic bit that she would continue to do for the rest of her life). But watch the whole video to hear Hamill’s superearnest plans for his acting future, and to see David Letterman’s Star Wars audience trivia quiz (#6 is a doozy).
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