A long time ago in a galaxy that’s so close it’s actually the one we’re in, the (at the time) final Star Wars movie came out. With Return of the Jedi in 1983, the saga of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, and all the rebels fighting the Empire and Darth Vader came to a close. We, of course, know now that this isn’t the case at all and not only were there a trilogy of prequels, but we’re embarking on a brand new trilogy with Luke Skywalker evidently becoming the mentor to a new potential Jedi… except George Lucas had that idea 33 years ago.

A set of GIFs from Imgur user HPWombat has been making the rounds on the internet and it features Luke himself, Mark Hamill, giving an interview sometime after Jedi‘s release. (I think it’s probably a few years later.) In it, the actor discusses how George Lucas had pitched him on coming back to being “the Obi-Wan” in or around the year 2011, and Hamill thought that was a pretty weird idea. The GIFs below:

Now, it’s not the biggest stretch in the whole wide galaxy to assume that the latter trilogy—which Lucas had always planned to make prior to selling Lucasfilm to Disney—would feature an older Luke and his probable training of future Jedi, but of all the things that J.J. Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy, Lawrence Kasdan, et al, decided to do for The Force Awakens, Luke’s storyline seemed the most spot-on.

If you want to watch that appearance in its 22-second glory, watch this (and pay no attention to the baby crying in the background):

We’re pretty pleased that the metaphorical handing of Excalibur is actually taking place all these many years later.

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Featured Image: Lucasfilm/Disney

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. Follow him on Twitter!