The Original Star Wars Cast Wasn't Stoked About The Idea Of The Force Awakens
Cast your mind back to 1986, and imagine the possibility that "Star Wars" was kind of at an end. "Return of the Jedi" had been released a few years previous, and the franchise was spinning out a few final ancillary TV shows to wring the last few dollars out of all things Skywalker. Two TV movies featuring Ewoks were released in 1984 and 1985, followed by the animated "Ewok" TV series, as well as the "Droids" animated show, which went off the air in '86. The train had stopped rolling.
It certainly felt that way for "Star Wars" actors Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford. To reiterate "Jedi," Hamill's character, the nascent wizard Luke Skywalker, has confronted his evil father, was nearly killed by the evil Emperor, and grown as a person. Fisher's character, Princess Leia, discovered the actual size of her family — Luke was actually her brother all along — and could finally celebrate the fall of tyranny. Ford's character, Han Solo, had already become more heroic, and could finally pursue a romantic relationship with Leia openly. It seemed like each one of them had reached their "happily ever after."
In October 2012, however, Disney purchased Lucasfilm to the tune of $4.05 billion dollars. The company sought to restart "Star Wars" features, not seen in theaters since 2008. Their initial plan was to release one "Star Wars" movie every year starting in 2015, starting with a movie bringing back Hamill, Fisher, and Ford. Though Disney released "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in 2015 to hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office, Lucasfilm's annual ambitions have since changed, and they've pivoted to expanding "Star Wars" stories to streaming on the small screen.
In a behind-the-scenes documentary, however, Hamill, Fisher, and Ford revealed the trepidation they felt when "The Force Awakens" was initially pitched to them. None of them thought it was a good idea.
Where do we go from here?
Hamill was especially baffled. Why bring back Luke Skywalker when his story was finished? It seemed, though, that since 1983, fans and authors began positing what might have happened to the character in the ensuing decades, and even invented scenarios wherein he might lose his faith in the Jedi order. But Hamill didn't think bringing back Luke in any capacity was a good idea. The actor said in the documentary:
"I was just astonished. I mean, I can't tell you. I mean, it was the last thing in the world I expected. Part of me thought, 'Oh my god, no. It's just a terrible idea. I had a beginning, a middle, and an end, and I can't really see anything that I could add to it.'"
In "The Force Awakens," Luke is living in hiding, off-camera for most of the movie. It seems he became disillusioned with being a Jedi and left the star wars for the passionate people who still care. The final shot of the movie was of a new character Rey (Daisy Ridley) inviting Luke back onto the battlefield to fight a new Empire-like threat.
Fisher, meanwhile, felt that she and her co-stars had aged out of the roles. "Star Wars" is a raucous adventure series, and she seemed to imply that the adventuring would better be left to a new generation. Hamill was 64 in 2015, Fisher was 59, and Ford was 73. Fisher recalled:
"I was surprised. I mean, you know, you think, 'Really? We waited this long? I looked better, like, 10 years ago, we could've done it then.'"
In the finished film, Leia was presented as a general of a new rebellion called the Resistance and an expert in military tactics. She didn't take part in battle directly.
The more things change...
Ford famously went on record multiple times expressing his mild distaste for the character of Han Solo. He felt that Solo was uncomplicated, and coming back again and again to the character robbed him of his simple heroism. He felt that Han Solo should have died in one of the earlier "Star Wars" movies, in order to give the character a conclusion and take any future sequels off the table. While Han Solo-loving fans felt that the character had a lot of potential to return to a "Star Wars" movie, Ford felt the opposite. He was well and done with the character. He said:
"At the end of the first three films that we made, I had no thought whatsoever about revisiting the character or whether there was any ambition to bring the three characters back again. I never gave it a moment's thought. If I had been asked at the time, I probably wouldn't have imagined the potential for it."
Indeed, over the years, Ford became famously snippy about "Star Wars" questions. He was a professional actor trying to ply his craft and stretch his talents. He wasn't interested in talking about an archetypal space cowboy he had played years before. It wouldn't be until Ford was in his 70s — and perhaps feeling a little nostalgic — that he would deign to revisit some of his more famous genre roles. He returned for Han Solo in 2015, played his "Blade Runner" role again in 2017, and returned to Indiana Jones in 2023 at the age of 79.
Of cours, throughout the new cycle of "Star Wars" movies, Han Solo, Princess Leia, and Luke Skywalker would die off one by one with each new movie. Their stories finally concluded (for the most part).