To say that Star Wars: The Last Jedi was divisive amongst the fandom is like saying water is wet or this sexy Handmaid’s Tale costume is messed up.
Sure it’s no masterpiece but The Last Jedi was great in its own right and there were some truly brilliant scenes in there, particularly the one of Luke and Leia’s long-awaited reunion towards the movie’s climax. It was emotional, fulled with beautiful subtext, and the perfect pay-off after years of build-up.
And just when I thought Luke and Leia’s reunion couldn’t be any better, Mark Hamill has shed some light on the scene that cranks the tearjerker quotient up a couple of notches.
In a new tweet, Mark revealed that filming the scene was especially emotional because not only was it Luke and Leia’s big reunion, it was also their final goodbye. And the forehead kiss Luke gives to Leia? Completely unscripted and spontaneous.
An emotionally charged day on set filming this because, knowing he was about to sacrifice his life for the greater good, Luke was saying goodbye… forever. The kiss was unscripted & spontaneous in the moment, summarizing his/my feelings in a way words could never have conveyed. https://t.co/l6Ap50WO8U
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) March 3, 2019
Excuse me while I wipe my tears. Okay, I’m good now.
Luke saying goodbye to Leia happened to be the last scene Mark shared onscreen with Carrie Fisher and it sort of unintentionally doubles as a goodbye to his dear friend of many years.
It’s no secret that Mark and Carrie were extremely close ever since they made A New Hope all those years ago, but the revelation that his forehead kiss to Carrie was an emotional spur-of-the-moment thing is simply magical. Plus, it really does add extra subtext to Luke’s line “no one is really ever gone.”
Great, the tears are flowing again. Just watch this masterpiece of a scene again while I compose myself.
Mark Hamill shedding some emotional background to Luke and Leia’s reunion/goodbye scene has retroactively put it even higher in the pantheon of all-time-great Star Wars scenes and it is unlikely that the upcoming Episode IX – or anything Star Wars-related Disney pumps out – can top it.
Not that we needed an excuse, but I think another rewatch of The Last Jedi is in order now.