Mark Hamill originally wanted Luke Skywalker to become evil in ‘Return Of The Jedi’

Luke and Darth have a father/son chat (Image by Lucasfilm)
Luke and Darth have a father/son chat (Image by Lucasfilm)

Mark Hamill originally believed that Luke Skywalker should have joined the dark side in Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi, rather than staying the hero.

Hamill said as much during his recent appearance on SiriusXM’s EW Live with hosts Dalton Ross and Jessica Shaw, via Indiewire, admitting that he was far from pleased when he first read the script for the third installment to the franchise.

“I remember complaining to George [Lucas] about something in Return of the Jedi. And I said, ‘It’s so predictable and pat.’

Read More: 'Star Wars': Mark Hamill explains why we've seen the last of Luke Skywalker

However, Lucas had the perfect response for Hamill, as he simply reminded him, “Mark, don't forget. These things were made for children,” with the actor then adding, “His original intention was to make movies for, you know, kids! Adolescents and younger."

“And we’re bringing our adult sensibilities to it and that’s where we go wrong. He’s the man. He knows what he wants, and I realized he was right. He said, ‘All fairy tales get tied up neatly at the end.’

Luke Skywalker contemplates becoming a baddy (Image by Lucasfilm)
Luke Skywalker contemplates becoming a baddy (Image by Lucasfilm)

One of the main reasons why Hamill believed that Luke Skywalker should have embraced his evil side in Return Of The Jedi was because of how crazy its predecessor The Empire Strikes Back had been.

“Well, I thought I was turning evil [in it]. Because I was wearing all black. I thought I would go to the dark side in the last one. And, of course, you have to redeem yourself. But that movie is the way I felt it was going with the preceding episode, but every actor wants to play their own evil twin.”

Read More: Mark Hamill surprised by how 'contentious' 'Star Wars' has become

The decision not to make Skywalker evil did at least give Hamill the chance to reprise the character in the recent Star Wars trilogy.

But even that wasn’t without its complications, as his appearances in The Force Awakens and The Rise Of Skywalker were very brief, while Hamill had very mixed feelings about the treatment of Skywalker in The Last Jedi.