The advent of CGI to 'de-age' actors of a certain vintage has certainly been en vogue in the last few years, and no franchise has made heavier use of the popular computer-generated wizardry than the Star Wars saga. But now, its most celebrated star, reckons the time has come for it to be put to bed and limited in its usage.
Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in six of the nine feature films, and in episodes of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, has been speaking with Esquire about his career, which is - naturally - defined by his time in Star Wars. However, despite his appearances in the three most-recent feature films - he may yet return as the Force Ghost of Skywalker in the upcoming movie which will star Daisy Ridley - his most-talked-about moments in recent times have been as a result of deepfake, where his younger face has been artificially added onto another actor's body (convincingly in one case, less so in another) to bring the young Luke back to life.
After Luke died in The Last Jedi, Hamill washed his hands of the series, having disagreed with the creative choices. One day, he received a visit from Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, the showrunners for The Mandalorian - accompanied by a puppet known at the time as "Baby Yoda". Hamill met with the pair, watched their show and admitted he was impressed enough to agree to return.
But when it came to shooting, the act of returning to young Luke freaked him out a little bit. Graham Hamilton, his on-set 'replacement', would act out the scene exactly as he had previously, and then computer magic would splice the two together. Hamill didn't like it. The idea of young Luke going off on post-Return of the Jedi adventures may seem appealing to certain fans and, more likely, Disney investors, but the fact of the matter is that Hamill doesn't think it's necessary. And if they still make it, he doesn't believe he should be the one playing Luke Skywalker.
"It is unusual to see yourself like that. It can't be cheap. People say, 'Oh, now you're going to be able to do a whole series of Luke post-Return of the Jedi.' I said, 'I don't think so.' First of all, they don't need to tell those stories, but if they do, they could get an age-appropriate actor."
As for returning to play an older Luke? Well, as Rey's mentor, it would make sense. But on that subject, Hamill goes from opinionated to corporate on a dime. "One thing you learn working for Lucasfilm: everything is confidential," he says. "Everything is confidential. So, if I were involved, I wouldn't be able to tell you. And if I were not involved, I wouldn't be able to tell you. So, I don't know. We'll all find out together, I guess."