Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker marked the end of an era. Literally, in fact, as it was publicized as the final chapter in the Skywalker saga. We can argue over how successful it was in delivering a perfect ending for the trio of trilogies, but whatever your feelings on it, it’s emotional that we won’t be getting more of the franchise’s original heroes. At least, Mark Hamill seems pretty certain about that in his latest tweet.
Those that follow his Twitter account will know that Hamill doesn’t stop with May 5th like everyone else but celebrates Star Wars Day throughout the whole month with a tweet each day. In his post for May 9th, the Luke Skywalker legend reflected on TROS. “May The 9th Be A Bittersweet Episode – Knowing It Was The Last Time I Would Ever Play Luke,” he wrote, adding the hashtag “#ByeByeSkywalker.”
May The 9th Be A Bittersweet Episode- Knowing It Was The Last Time I Would Ever Play Luke#ByeByeSkywalker pic.twitter.com/KjWKVSksLZ
— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) May 9, 2020
Of course, Luke sacrificed his life in Star Wars: The Last Jedi to create a diversion to distract Kylo Ren while the Resistance escaped, with the exertion of producing a Force projection causing his death. He returned as a Force ghost in Rise of Skywalker, however, to offer some words of encouragement to Rey that helped her find the strength to face her evil grandfather Palpatine. Luke’s ghost then appeared alongside Leia’s, watching over Rey as she buried their lightsabers on Tatooine, in the movie’s last scene.
That’s a pretty conclusive end to Luke’s story, so it’s not surprising that Hamill is so sure he’s not playing Luke again. The fact that his ghost showed up on Tatooine, though, did get fans wondering whether he would continue to guide Rey as she rebuilds the Jedi Order, meaning Luke could appear in some potential future movie. But it sounds like Hamill has drawn a line in the sand – Tatooine pun intended – and has decided that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker really is it for his time in the galaxy far, far away.