Lucasfilm Ltd. Mark Hamillis sharing his true feelings aboutStar Wars: Episode VIII — The Last JedidirectorRian Johnson. Since reprising his role as Luke Skywalker in theStar Warssequel trilogy that ran from 2015- 2019, Hamill has not been shy about voicing his candid feelings about the franchise. The actor jumped at the chance to set the record straight when asked to address his previous criticisms of the Johnson helmed film during a visit toJesse Thorn'sBullseyepodcast. "I'd love to clear this up: Rian Johnson is one of the most gifted directors I've ever worked with," Hamill began. "He's amiable, he's fun on set, he's smart, he made a great movie. I think the standoff between Kylo Ren —Adam Driver— and I at the end is so well-staged. I loveKnives OutandBrick. He's one of my favorite directors." But, asStar Warsfans are well aware, Hamill has previously taken issue with the way that Johnson reintroduced Luke Skywalker to the franchise. InThe Last Jedi, the once pure-hearted, idealistic Jedi Master returned as a hardened recluse, living in self-imposed exile after his nephew Ben Solo turned to the dark side, becoming Kylo Ren. Lucasfilm Ltd. ; Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty In the immediate aftermath of the film's release, Hamill voiced unhappiness with the dark direction of Luke's character, at one pointproclaiming, "He's not my Luke Skywalker." But now, the actor clarifies that it wasn't Luke's dark heel turn that upset him — it was merely the reason behind Luke's drastic change. "The fact that I went public with my dissatisfaction with the motivation for Luke becoming a suicidal hermit might have colored things in a way that, maybe I should have kept that to myself," he said of the film's reception. "But I kept saying to Rian, 'This would just make Luke double down even —' and he said, 'Well, your class at the Jedi Academy were wiped out.'" Hamill explained that he had a different idea of how Luke would respond to such a tragedy. "I said, 'Rian, I saw entire planets wiped out!'" he recalled. "'If anything, Luke doubles down and hardens his resolve in the face of adversity.' So that's all." With the direction of Luke's arc already set, Hamill then proposed an alternative, pitching a different reason for his character to leave the Jedi behind. "I made up a much, much darker backstory that I thought could justify him being that way," Hamill explained. "I thought, 'What could make someone give up a devotion to what is basically a religious entity, to give up being a Jedi?' Well, the love of a woman." Jonathan Olley/ Lucasfilm Ltd Hamill previously shared his backstory idea withEntertainment Weeklyin a 2017 interview, explaining that he "wrote lots and lots of scenarios" before landing on a version where Luke "fell in love with a woman who was a widow" and "left the Jedi" to help raise her child, until "the child got hold of a lightsaber and accidentally killed himself." It only gets darker from there. Hamill told Thorn that the story ends with the wife being "so full of grief" that "she kills herself." He explained, "I hear these horrible stories about these children who find unattended guns and wind up dead. That resonated with me so deeply. But [Rian] didn't have the time to tell a backstory like that, I'm guessing. He just wanted a brief thing to explain it. And to me, it didn't justify it." Want more movie news? Sign up forEntertainment Weekly's free newsletterto get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more. But all of that said, disagreeing about the story did not affect Hamill's commitment to the character. "I told [Rian], 'Despite the fact that I disagree with your choices for Luke, I'm going to do everything within my power to make your screenplay work as best as I can,'" Hamill recalled. "And the only thing unfortunate about that is, I've heard comments from fans who think that I somehow dislike Rian Johnson, and nothing could be further from the truth." John Wilson/Lucasfilm Ltd. As for Johnson, thePoker Facecreative has stood by hisStar Warsmovie, and particularly his polarizing take on Luke. "When I was up at bat, I really swung at the ball," the filmmakertoldEmpirein 2022. "I think it's impossible for any of us to approachStar Warswithout thinking about it as a myth that we were raised with, and how that myth, that story, baked itself into us and affected us. The ultimate intent was not to strip away — the intent was to get to the basic, fundamental power of myth. And ultimately I hope the film is an affirmation of the power of the myth ofStar Warsin our lives." Johnson was previously set to develophis own trilogy ofStar Warsmovies, but the project was put on the back burner as Lucasfilm pivoted to television with such titles asObi-Wan Kenobi,Andor, andThe Mandalorianand Johnson began developing severalKnives Outmovies for Netflix. "It's just at this point a matter of schedule and when it can happen. It would break my heart if I were finished, if I couldn't get back in that sandbox at some point," Johnson said in 2022. Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly