Mark Hamill Reveals J.J. Abrams' Direction Of The 'Force Awakens' Final Moment

Doing a Star Wars junket means not actually seeing the movie before talking to the talent, each of whom have each been briefed not to reveal anything. So what kind of questions do you ask in this situation? Leading questions about the previous movie, of course!

So the first question I asked Star Wars: The Last Jedi star Mark Hamill was about the last scene in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. What was the direction that filmmaker J.J. Abrams gave him in that final moment as he encounters Daisy Ridley's Rey? Find out what he had to say about the direction of that Force Awakens final moment.

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So I know you probably can't answer much about this movie, so I thought I would ask you a question about the last movie.

Okay.

The last moment of Force Awakens is so powerful and you're standing there and I think I've talked to so many different people who think they know what is going through your mind and it's different every time. So I'm wondering, what was the direction of that from J.J. [Abrams] on how to play this moment?

Well, here's what happened. We had discussed in broad terms before we went to Skellig Michael. And on the day that we actually did it, they were just going to run a [film] magazine, which I think is 12 minutes. So what I did was I turned and looked at Rey, holding out this lightsaber and I tried to go just do a range of reactions. From doubt to anger to welcoming to bewilderment. I mean, I really wanted to give him an array. It's really turning over a lot of power to him 'cause he didn't come to me and say, okay, look, I want you to do X, Y or Z. I thought if I gave him enough puzzle pieces he could choose this and this one and it would give him the power to control it the way he wanted.

I don't know, I haven't seen it but twice. And when I turn around and stare, I don't know if they cut away and back. I don't really know how many different times they go away and come back. But I just gave him enough so that he would have the ability to choose what he wanted. Like I say, like a puzzle piece that he needed. But the thing is it was meant to be ambiguous. Does he know who she is? Did Leia, they established they could communicate telepathically, did Leia sort of communicate with him and say who she was? We don't know. Even I don't know too much more than you do at this point. But you'll find out more in this episode.

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I think it's quite interesting that Abrams asked Mark for a range of responses, which seems to indicate that either he didn't know where he wanted this story to go or perhaps he was trying to not show his cards to any of the cast or crew on the set. As for the intention behind that ambiguous look, we will find out soon enough as Star Wars: The Last Jedi hits theaters next week.