SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for director Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, in theaters now.
Rian Johnson may have killed off Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but that hasn’t deterred the man who played the character since 1977, Mark Hamill, from believing that the Jedi is still alive somewhere in the galaxy.
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In a pre-Oscars interview with the BBC, Hamill made it clear he hasn’t said goodbye to his character just yet. “I refuse to believe that he’s gone,” Hamill said. “My theory is he just teleported to somewhere else and left his robe behind.” In The Last Jedi, in order to save the General Leia (Carrie Fisher) and her Rebel squad on the salt-planet Crait in the movie’s finale, Luke used the Force to project himself into the field of battle against Kylo Ren (Adam Driver).
It was all a trick though, stalling the villain so that Leia’s team could escape. However, it took a lot out of him and we saw Luke evaporate into thin air on a cliff on the ocean world Ahch-To, leaving his Jedi robe blowing away in the wind, thus indicating that he had indeed passed into the afterlife. However, while diehards may really want the character to still be out there somewhere in the galaxy, Hamill’s words are very much tongue-in-cheek as he immediately joked, “He teleported to a nudist colony, that’s what I’m hoping.”
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With J.J. Abrams now directing Episode IX, fans are eager to see if Luke does return to help Rey and company stop Kylo Ren’s First Order, even if as a Force ghost, which most Jedi Masters appear as after they die.
Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Star Wars: The Last Jedi stars Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Daisy Ridley as Rey, John Boyega as Finn, Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, Andy Serkis as Supreme Leader Snoke, Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux, Gwendoline Christie as Captain Phasma, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, Lupita Nyong’o as Maz Kanata, Benicio Del Toro as ‘DJ’, Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico, Laura Dern as Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, and the late Carrie Fisher as General Leia Organa. The film arrives March 13 on Digital HD and March 27 on Blu-ray 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and On-Demand.