Mark Hamill Approves New Star Wars Boss After Blasting Last Jedi Issues

Mark Hamill is giving the new leadership at Lucasfilm an enthusiastic endorsement. Speaking to USA Today, the Luke Skywalker actor said he “can’t think of better hands” for “Star Wars” to be in than those of Dave Filoni, who is now Lucasfilm’s co-president and chief creative officer. Filoni is running the “Star Wars” studio alongside Lynwen Brennan after Kathleen Kennedy announced her exit in January.

Hamill noted that Filoni understands the “Star Wars” franchise “so well,” having worked directly with George Lucas on “Star Wars: The Clone Wars.” The actor would later work with Filoni when Luke Skywalker was brought back via de-aging VFX to appear in Disney+ series “The Mandalorian” and “The Book of Boba Fett.” The actor called these projects “great stuff.”

“George was a mentor to Dave, so he knows George’s sensibility,” Hamill added.

Kennedy served as Lucasfilm president for 14 years, joining in summer 2012 just ahead of Disney’s $4.05 billion acquisition of the studio. Under Kennedy, “Star Wars” came roaring back to life with 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” But the franchise then stumbled amid polarizing fan responses to sequel movies “The Last Jedi” and “The Rise of Skywalker.” Hamill himself was a critic of “The Last Jedi,” taking issue with how Luke Skywalker became a miserable, hardened recluse living in self-imposed exile after his protege, Ben Solo, joined the dark side and became Kylo Ren.

Hamill told Comic Book after “The Last Jedi” opened in theaters that he “still hadn’t accepted” what happened to Luke and opposed such a dark heel turn for the character, although the actor stressed on the “Bullseye with Jesse Thorn” podcast last summer that director Rian Johnson made “a great movie,” adding: “I’d love to clear this up. … Rian Johnson is one of the most gifted directors I’ve ever worked with.”

“The fact that I went public with my dissatisfaction with the motivation for Luke becoming a suicidal hermit might have colored things in a way that, maybe I should have kept that to myself,” Hamill admitted. “But I kept saying to Rian, ‘This would just make Luke double down even…’ and he said, ‘Well, your class at the Jedi Academy were wiped out.’ I said, ‘Rian, I saw entire planets wiped out! If anything, Luke doubles down and hardens his resolve in the face of adversity.’ So that’s all.”

Hamill believed Luke would become even more of a hero and an advocate for the Jedi in the wake of Ben Solo’s betrayal. The actor added: “That said — and I told [Rian] this — despite the fact that I disagree with your choices for Luke, I’m going to do everything within my power to make your screenplay work as best as I can. And the only thing unfortunate about that is, I’ve heard comments from fans who think that I somehow dislike Rian Johnson, and nothing could be further from the truth.”

While Hamill is giving thumbs up to Lucasfilm’s new bosses, don’t expect him to be back as Luke Skywalker. He told Comic Book last year he has no plans to return as his iconic “Star Wars” hero.

“I had my time,” Hamill said. “I’m appreciative of that, but I think they should focus on the future and all the new characters.”