What better way to kick off Star Wars Celebration Europe than by spending a whole hour with the saga’s undisputed hero: Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill? Hamill took the stage and ExCel Center’s largest auditorium to a crowd of eager fans, waiting with Jedi-like anticipation for stories from 40 years of Star Wars supremacy, and the man did not disappoint, dropping a few choice hints about what fans can expect in 2017 with his triumphant return in Episode VIII….just kidding! Though he did have one teaser for us.
While answering a question about the iconic voice roles he’s done, Hamill mentioned that he was looping a line of dialogue for the new movie and could already see it being quoted on a T-shirt. But that was really it in terms of new info.
Hamill went on to speak about how all the secrecy on the sets is both a blessing and a curse. “It’s kind of annoying,” he said to the 4,000 onlookers, specifically mentioning how the call sheets for each day of filming didn’t list actors’ names, just numbers. “Who’s working today? Oh, #22! I love her work. She’s twice as good as #11.” But as irksome as that can be, he totally recognizes the need for it. The studio “wants the surprise to be on screen and not on the internet,” which was met with an eruption of applause.
He and Daisy Ridley (Rey) just wrapped their bit of filming so surely he HAS stories, though contractual obligation prevents him from spilling anything, major or minor. He mentioned the weather at Skellig Michael, the Irish isle where he shot his scene in The Force Awakens, and presumably much of Episode VIII. There’s your big scoop, folks! It can get really cold on that little rock, and it takes a really long time to climb to the top. Wowzers, huh?
We’re guessing he’s doing something fairly physical in the new movie, though—it’s training Rey, probably—because of all the working out and getting in shape he was made to do for his minute-long moment in The Force Awakens. They wouldn’t make him get in shape just to stand there, would they?
The secrecy certainly does make for great movie-going experiences, but darn it! We want some kind of sneak peek about what awesome Forceful activity Luke and Rey will do in 2017. Let us know what you hope happens in the comments below!
What do we know about Episode VIII?
Image: Lucasfilm
Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist and will be at Star Wars Celebration all weekend long!Follow him on Twitter!
