Mark Hamill Comments on Star Wars Disney; Familiar With Episode 7, 8 & 9

With Disney’s announcement that they are acquiring Lucasfilm from George Lucas, and with a new Star Wars movie set for 2015, “Episode 7,” Luke Skywalker, Mark Hamill, now offers up some comments.

And he was just as surprised by the news as you and me.

However, Mark Hamill wasn’t surprised that more Star Wars movies are being made.

Hamill told EW that he has been in contact with George Lucas who told him about Episodes 7, 8 and 9; however, he missed Lucas’ phone call about the Disney acquisition.

Oh my gosh, what a shock that was! I had no idea that George was going to sell to Disney until I read it online like everybody else. He did tell us last summer about wanting to go on and do [Episodes] VII, VIII, and IX, and that [newly appointed Lucasfilm president] Kathleen Kennedy would be doing them.

Hamill also reveals that co-star Carrie Fisher, Princess Leia, knew about the new movies as well.

Yeah, last August, he asked Carrie and I to have lunch with him and we did. I thought he was going to talk about either his retirement or the Star Wars TV series that I’ve heard about — which I don’t think we were going to be involved in anyway, because that takes place between the prequels and the ones we were in and, if Luke were in them, he’d be anywhere from a toddler to a teenager so they’d get an age-appropriate actor — or the 3-D releases. So when he said, “We decided we’re going to do Episodes VII, VIII, and IX,” I was just gobsmacked. “What? Are you nuts?!” [Laughs] I can see both sides of it. Because in a way, there was a beginning, a middle, and an end and we all lived happily ever after and that’s the way it should be — and it’s great that people have fond memories, if they do have fond memories. But on the other hand, there’s this ravenous desire on the part of the true believers to have more and more and more material. It’s one of those things: people either just don’t care for it or are passionate about it. I guess that defines what cult movies are all about. We’ll see. I’m anxious to know what’s going on, but the main story [yesterday] was the sale to Disney.

Regarding his thoughts on Disney taking over the Star Wars franchise, Hamill said he has mixed feelings, but noted how well Disney has handled both Pixar and Marvel.

I have mixed feelings about that, but they haven’t done badly by Marvel and the Muppets and Pixar. It’s one of those big decisions that at first seems unusual but then the more you look at it, the more it makes sense.

And finally regarding Mark Hamill in Star Wars Episode 7? He just doesn’t know.

Well, no, he was just talking about writers and the fact that he wouldn’t be directing. I guess he wanted us to know before everybody else knew. He said, “Now you can’t tell anybody!” [Laughs] Even now I’m nervous about saying anything. I just don’t know!

While we don’t know yet if Hamill will have a role, it has since come out that the Luke Skywalker featured in Star Wars Episode 7 may be in his 30s and 40s and with an original story.