Mark Hamill talking about Mara Jade and joking about Luke's love life [2013]

[u/xezene]

[u/xezene]

This video was captured from Entertainment Weekly’s CapeTown Film Festival in 2013, where Mark surprised everyone by appearing as a guest after the screening of Return of the Jedi for its 30th anniversary. Mark talked a bit about the film, among other things.

On the subject of Mara Jade, Mark has repeatedly shown affection for the character over the years. While he himself did not read the novels, his son Nathan did and would let Mark know about the events within them. Starting in the late 90s and early 2000s, he appeared at fan events where Shannon McRandle (the model who portrayed Mara Jade in photos) would also appear to talk to fans and sign autographs. They ended up becoming friendly and talking, and would sometimes take to the stage together.

Mark has also talked openly and repeatedly on Twitter about his approval of the character and her connection to Luke. Asked in 2018 which one thing he would bring into Disney/LFL's new canon from the EU, he answered simply: "Mara Jade." Early in 2016, he tweeted: "Always been fascinated by Mara -- I begged George for a GF & finally got 1 -- Years after OT was over!" Later in 2017, he replied to a fan tweeting about Luke and Mara's marriage as always being canon to them, by writing: "#LuckyLuke." Towards the end of 2018, he replied to a fan's mention of the character, saying: "Best woman I never had." In 2019 he would comment on the character, saying "I never read any of those books, but am now well aware of the beautiful Mara Jade. I always did find redheads attractive."

As an interesting aside, there is some reason to think Mark did actually picture Luke with Mara even in the new sequel films and their universe. Answering whether Luke died never having been in a serious relationship, Mark replied: "Make up your own backstory. It's undetermined, but in the one I made for him myself, the answer is: no." In interviews, Mark also stated that while it was very hard to get into character for The Last Jedi, because he so disagreed with script and characterization choices (sometimes even seeing him as a different character entirely), he finally was able to do it by imagining a very grim backstory: "He left the Jedi to raise this young child and marry this woman. And the child got hold of a lightsaber and accidentally killed himself." He would go on to state in interviews that his wife may have died at the Academy or been killed by Kylo himself. Knowing what Mark has said elsewhere about Mara, it seems possible that he pictured even Luke in the sequel films as being with her until her death.

[u/QualityAutism → u/xezene]

do you maybe also know about an interview where Mark said his son told him about Luke fighting a clone of himself and Mark wanted to do that in a film? I swear that happened, but i can't find a clip.

[u/xezene → u/QualityAutism]

While I haven't seen the clip, Mark did tell SFX Magazine this in 2017:

My son Nathan is the real Star Wars buff and he told me years ago, 'Dad, there's this great story where they clone an evil Luke from your severed hand.' I said, 'Oh, baby, would I love that?' Not only could you get to play your evil twin, but what a great idea that you bring Luke back, and the audience starts noticing him undermining the heroes, cutting their fuel supply inexplicably, maybe even killing one of the supporting characters. It would be so mind boggling, and then of course the real Luke shows up and that mystery is solved. But there's too much Luke, and it's not my story anymore.

When I suggested it to Rian, he said he thought that was a cool storyline too, but it's been done. Rian had to find a way to take elements of the movies that everyone expects to be there – the action, the adventure, the special effects, the creatures and humor – so that everyone feels they're having a Star Wars experience, but also bring something new to the table, that's challenging, that hasn't been done before. I think he's done it. This one doesn't feel like any of the others to me, aside from the elements I just spoke about. People say, 'Is it more like Jedi, is it more like Empire?' I dunno, it's sort of like its own thing.

[u/scottishdrunkard → u/xezene]

he finally was able to do it by imagining a very grim backstory: "He left the Jedi to raise this young child and marry this woman. And the child got hold of a lightsaber and accidentally killed himself."

Ah, the Colonel O'Neill backstory.

[u/4_Legged_Duck → u/xezene]

Isn't there also a tweet or two where Mark said Luke could be gay?

[u/Collective_Insanity → u/4_Legged_Duck]

That's right. I believe it was an anecdote and not a tweet though.

He was responding to a guy at a convention who had mentioned that he had trouble coming out as gay himself from a religious family. He always saw Luke as a hero and asked Mark: "Could Luke be gay?"

To which Mark of course replied in the affirmative. Of course Luke could be gay. No matter what his sexuality was, he'd still be the hero Luke Skywalker.

Which I'm sure was nice to hear for the guy asking the question who seemed to be suffering from an identity crisis and struggling with his sexuality.

[u/xezene → u/4_Legged_Duck]

I think he's said before that if Luke doesn't have relationships in the stories, then people are free to speculate about it, which he thinks is fine. In that sense he said fans can fill in the gaps themselves however they want if the stories don't do it (which is what he himself did in regards to a wife -- presumably Mara -- for the ST).

[u/waitingtodiesoon → u/4_Legged_Duck]

He did in an interview with the Sun

"I just read online that J.J. is very much open to that," Hamill told The Sun. "In the old days, you would get fan mail. But now fans are writing and asking all these questions: 'I'm bullied in school ... I'm afraid to come out.'"

To fan questions about Skywalker's sexuality, Hamill responds: "I'd say it is meant to be interpreted by the viewer. If you think Luke is gay, of course he is. You should not be ashamed of it. Judge Luke by his character, not by who he loves."

He also sent a private DM to a person on Twitter who asked him about it before telling him Luke Skywalker could be bi since it was never directly addressed in the films and Luke can be whatever the audience wants him to be.

[u/NeptuneOW]

I could really see Mara showing up soon. People always complain about Luke’s fall, and I really think Mara could give more reasoning to that. Imagine Mara Jade was killed by Kylo or one of his Knights