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Mark Hamill has "a much darker backstory" for what happened to Luke after Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, involving a wife & child
Mark Hamill’s tragic backstory for Luke Skywalker is more dark and twisted than anything we saw on screen

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Mark Hamill has an insane piece of headcanon for Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and you have to read it to believe it.
In the 2017 film Star Wars: The Last Jedi we learn that Luke Skywalker went into exile because he blamed himself for Ben Solo’s turn to the Dark Side. Luke briefly considered murdering his young nephew in his sleep but immediately regretted the thought. Unfortunately, Ben misread the situation and immediately lashed out. When Luke awoke, his students were slaughtered, and Ben was gone.
That’s pretty tragic, but not as tragic as the backstory Mark Hamill had in mind. Hamill didn’t believe Luke’s failure with Ben was enough to send him into exile and shared his thoughts with director Rian Johnson.
“I said, ‘Rian, I saw entire planets wiped out. If anything, Luke doubles down and it hardens his resolve in the face of adversity,’” Mark Hamill says during an interview on Bullseye with Jesse Thorn. “I said, ‘Can I make up my own backstory of why he is the way he is? I don’t want to just say I bumped my head and have brain damage.’ He said, ‘Yeah, do whatever you want.’ So, I made up a much darker backstory that I thought could justify him being that way.”
“I thought what could make someone give up a devotion to what is basically a religious entity. To give up being a Jedi. Well, the love of a woman. So, he falls in love with a woman. He gives up being a Jedi. They have a child together. At some point the child as a toddler picks up an unattended lightsaber, pushes the button, and is killed instantly. The wife is so full of grief, she kills herself."
“I hear these horrible stories about these children that find unattended guns and so forth and wind up dead. That resonated with me so deeply. But [Rian] didn’t have the time to tell a backstory like that I’m guessing. He just wanted a brief thing to explain it. To me, it didn’t justify it. That said, and I told him this, ‘Despite the fact that I disagree with your choices for Luke, I’m going to do everything within my power to make your screen work as best that I can.’”
The only thing unfortunate about that is I’ve heard comments from fans who think that I somehow dislike Rian Johnson, and nothing can be further from the truth.”
In many ways, this seems almost too tragic for Luke Skywalker. If people thought The Last Jedi was controversial before, imagine the audience reaction if this had made it into the final film.
Get to know, understand, and love the Star Wars franchise more with our Star Wars watch order, guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies & TV shows, and all the Star Wars movies and Star Wars TV shows ranked.
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