Mark Hamill Kinda Confirms He’s Returning to ‘Star Wars.’ No One Breathes a Sigh of Relief

I think ever since they announced that there'd be a new Star Wars trilogy beginning in 2015, everyone kind of assumed it would be about the offspring of Luke, Leia and Han. Especially since stories concerning the grandchildren of Anakin Skywalker already exist and have an interesting arc to them on their own, which you can read about here. So where does that leave the stars of the original? Well, we know now that Harrison Ford is apparently confirmed to step back into the black Corellian boots of Captain Han Solo, and they, that's fantastic. Ford has remained an A-list movie star since the late-70s and even though now in his seventies, he's still in shape and capable.

So where does that leave Luke and Leia. Well, time has really not been all that kind to Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher. While they remain active with work (Hamill as a successful voice-over actor and Fisher as a screenwriter and author), there's a good reason they tend to remain off camera these days. I'm not saying that unless you're a paragon of beauty and youth you shouldn't be allowed to act, far from it, but these are some of the most iconic characters of all time and we remember them a certain way. It would almost do a disservice for them to suddenly be back in our lives as paunchy, bloated, craggly and sad. And with Hamill telling Entertainment Tonight that both he and Fisher are 'in the stage where they want us to go in and meet with Michael Arndt, who is the writer, and Kathleen Kennedy', that's a distinct possibility. 

Hamill had already admitted that George Lucas went to both him and Carrie Fisher to tell them before the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney that a new trilogy was in the works and that if they didn't want to take part in it, their characters would be killed off in the backstory as opposed to being recast. Now with a prospective 2015 release date, that doesn't leave that much time until cameras roll if Disney plans to stand by that date. But certainly enough that two actors in their late-50s could probably hit the gym, put down the pills and booze and get themselves in order for what will most likely be their last return to a blockbuster movie set.

Because, quite frankly, I don't want to believe that after thirty years since he helped bring down the Empire, all Luke Skywalker has been doing is hanging out in the Tatooine growing fat of Baantha meat, unable to properly grip his lightsaber with all the grease over his fingers. So if we want a Luke and Leia that'll make us look fondly to older age and remember our heroes as just that, they should make the effort or else do us all a favor and fall on their lightsabers.